Posted on Tue, Aug 25, 2009 @ 02:13 PM
By Ian Lanza, Life Sciences Operations Coordinator
A good chemical inventory management program can reduce purchasing costs, reduce waste volumes and help comply with multiple safety and environmental regulations. There are three key components to constructing a good chemical inventory program:
1. Select a chemical inventory program- There are several different kinds of chemical inventory software on the market. I strongly suggest shopping around and purchasing a specific inventory program. Excel spreadsheets and home-crafted Access databases are generally not sophisticated enough to properly or effectively manage your program.
2. Reconcile your inventory- Once you have decided on an inventory software, you must enter all of the chemical in your facility into the inventory program. Do Not underestimate the importance and complexity of this step. Improperly entered chemicals or locations can be devastating. When reconciling your inventory you must consider spelling, nomenclature, locations, and SAFETY.
3. Continue Management- In order to make your chemical inventory sustainable, you must develop a system for entering new chemicals into the system, removing expired or empty bottles, and accounting for movement of chemicals within a facility. In addition I recommend performing a yearly reconciliation to ensure the inventory is up-to-date and to identify flaws in the program.
Chemical inventory management can be very complex and turn into a big mess very quickly. But with the right software, regular and consistent reconciliations and constant maintenance, your chemical inventory program can run flawlessly to reduce costs and waste generation, and ensure environmental and safety compliance.
Posted on Tue, Mar 03, 2009 @ 02:00 PM
by Matt Bedford, Life Sciences ChemistYes, it's true, we are in the midst of a worldwide acetonitrile (ACN) shortage. Supplies of acetonitrile are at an all time low and the situation is not predicted to get better until well into 2009.
There have been several factors attributed to this global shortage. Acetonitrile is a by-product from the production of acrylonitrile. Acrylonitrile is an important raw material used in the process of making plastics. One factor that may account for there being less ACN around is a slight general decline in demand for plastics. This alone cannot account for the drastic shortages. Two of the world's largest manufactures of ACN are based in Texas and China. The plant in Texas was recently hit by hurricane Ike temporarily closing it down for repair while the facility in China was ordered to halt production leading up to and during the Olympic games.
Two well known chemical suppliers have posted open letters informing customers of the shortage, price increases and that new customers may not be able to order any ACN at all. Currently 1L of ACN from Fisher costs $230. Compare this to 1L of HPLC grade methanol at $57.
As researchers begin to use alternative solvents will this affect the profiles we have created for consistent waste streams? And, if ACN is bought in bulk, could this affect a sites flammable materials permit?