Last Modified: Thursday, September 19, 2019

Dry Heat Sterilizer Validation

Dry heat is sometimes used for sterilization instead of the much more efficient moist heat.

Dy Heat Sterilization is used because some materials are sensitive to moisture. Dry heat is often used to ensure that glass and other laboratory equipment is free of pyrogenic material.

The process of sterilization within a chamber or hot air tunnel is a critical process and there is a regulatory requirement for validation of the process in most countries. Although dry heat sterilizer validation requirements and quality assurance requirements vary in detail, the common theme is that it must be shown that sterilization has been achieved. Validation is defined as the documented procedure of obtaining, recording and interpreting results to ensure that the dry heat sterilization process has been and will be consistently effective.

Dry heat sterilizer validation consists of accurately measuring the temperature at critical points within the sterilization chamber throughout the process. Dry heat process generally employs a temperature between 250°C and 400°C for varying time. The sterilizer is required to heat all parts of its load up to the specified temperature for a specified period, long enough to achieve the desired sterility. The confidence of degree of sterility can then be expressed by a lethality formula or ‘thermal death time’. TQSoft™ thermal validation systems can automatically calculate and alert critical operational parameters with its Interval Calculations feature.

For more information please visit our Thermal Validation Systems page.

Previous/Next Link

Share With Others: