The term laboratory encompasses a wide range of operations, including research and development of new products, quality control of raw materials and finished batches, pilot plants that replicate industrial processes on a smaller scale, and analytical laboratories in the chemical, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and food industries.
Despite their different purposes, they all share the same technical challenges: accurately dosing reagents, measuring low liquid and gas flow rates, and generating controlled vacuum for sample preparation and formulation stabilization.
From a process perspective, three unit operations are found in virtually every laboratory:
- Precise dosing of additives, reagents, and process chemicals, achieved with compact metering pumps.
- Vacuum generation for deaeration, filtration, evaporation, and sample preparation, provided by vacuum pumps.
- Local flow measurement of utilities and analytical gases, performed using variable area flow meters (rotameters).
Each of these functions is supported by a corresponding OMEL product, and they serve as the basis for the sections that follow.
Laboratory Metering Pumps
Dosing is the most critical operation in a laboratory.
Reagents, catalysts, pH adjusters, preservatives, and active ingredients must be added in precise and repeatable volumes, as even a small percentage variation can compromise a formulation, invalidate a test, or prevent successful scale-up to an industrial process.
This is where a metering pump differs from a conventional pump: it does not simply transfer the fluid it delivers a precisely controlled volume with each stroke, ensuring known and repeatable accuracy.
DMD Diaphragm Metering Pumps
OMEL DMD Series metering pumps feature a mechanically actuated elastomeric diaphragm in a compact monoblock design, with a completely leak-tight dosing head.
This leak-tight construction is essential in laboratory applications, where corrosive chemicals and fluids that cannot be allowed to leak are frequently handled.
The DMD series offers capacities ranging from 0 to 1,140 L/h, a maximum discharge pressure of 10 barg, and a repeatability tolerance of ±3%.
Flow rate is adjusted via an external handwheel with a micrometric adjustment screw, allowing capacity changes while the pump is either stopped or running. When remote flow control is required, the motor can be operated with a variable frequency drive (VFD).
Chemical compatibility is ensured through the appropriate selection of wetted construction materials. For laboratories that need to dose multiple reagents simultaneously, the DMD pump can be configured with up to six independently adjustable dosing heads, all driven by a single drive unit.
DMP Piston Metering Pumps
When applications require higher operating pressures or greater volumetric accuracy, OMEL offers the DMP Series, featuring piston metering technology.
The DMP is a compact, heavy-duty metering pump with an oil bath lubricated drive and capacity adjustment through a micrometric screw.
Maximum working pressure reaches 328 bar on the smallest piston sizes, while a wide range of construction materials provides exceptional application flexibility, including stainless steel, Alloy 20, Hastelloy B, and Hastelloy C pump heads. Special versions with chemical porcelain pistons are also available for abrasive fluids.
This broad selection of materials enables precise dosing of applications ranging from concentrated acids to abrasive solutions, making the DMP Series an ideal choice for research laboratories and pilot plants.
Laboratory Vacuum Pumps
Vacuum is a quiet yet indispensable utility in the laboratory. It is used in vacuum filtration, rotary evaporation, sample drying, media preparation, and, most importantly, in the deaeration of formulations.
Liquid ring vacuum pumps are particularly well suited for laboratory environments because they operate completely oil-free, eliminating the risk of contaminating both the sample and the process air.
They are also highly tolerant of impurities and can handle entrained vapors and small amounts of liquid, conditions commonly encountered when applying vacuum to wet products.
OMEL BVM Series liquid ring vacuum pumps, featuring a compact monoblock design, provide capacities ranging from 30 to 750 m³/h and achieve vacuum levels as low as 40 mbar absolute without the need for ejectors.
The smaller models in the series are equipped with motors starting at 0.5 HP, making them ideal for laboratory benches and pilot plant applications.
Available in a variety of construction materials, the BVM Series can be applied across a wide range of laboratory processes, from standard applications to those requiring compatibility with highly aggressive chemicals.
Featured Application: Sunscreen Deaeration
A practical example of the importance of vacuum in laboratory processes is the deaeration of sunscreens and other cosmetic emulsions.
During emulsification, high-shear mixing incorporates microscopic air bubbles into the product. If this entrained air is not removed, it can lead to well-known issues such as internal bubbles, increased opacity, color variation, inaccurate viscosity measurements, filling defects, and, most importantly, oxidation of UV filters and other active ingredients, reducing both product effectiveness and shelf-life stability.
The solution is to subject the emulsion to controlled vacuum, allowing dissolved and entrapped air to expand and be removed before filling.
What this process requires is not an extremely deep vacuum, but rather a clean, stable vacuum that can be maintained consistently throughout production.
OMEL BVM Series liquid ring vacuum pumps are ideally suited to this application. They provide a constant vacuum without oil coming into contact with the product and can safely handle entrained vapors and small amounts of liquid without damage to the equipment—an unavoidable condition when vacuum is applied to an agitated, wet emulsion.
For this reason, they are a natural choice for sunscreen deaeration, both in laboratory-scale product development and when scaling up to industrial production.
The same principle applies to other cosmetic and pharmaceutical formulations, including creams, serums, gels, and ointments, as well as laboratory degassing processes for liquids and resins prior to testing or analysis. In every case, the objective is the same: a stable, oil-free vacuum, which is the defining characteristic of OMEL BVM Series.
Variable Area Flow Meters (Rotameters) for Flow Measurement
Local flow measurement without relying on electronic transmitters is a constant requirement in laboratories. Typical applications include carrier gas for chromatography, air and inert gases supplied to bench-scale reactors, cooling water, instrument purge lines, and liquid dosing for laboratory testing.
In these situations, the goal is an immediate and reliable flow indication without wiring or an external power supply. This is exactly what a rotameter provides, making it one of the most practical instruments for low-flow measurement.
OMEL offers not a single rotameter model, but a complete range of configurations designed for different applications. Models are available with borosilicate glass tubes for direct visual reading, as well as all-metal versions for applications where glass is unsuitable due to temperature, pressure, fluid opacity, or safety requirements.
Scale lengths range from short tubes for very low flow rates to longer tubes that provide higher measurement resolution. Floats are available in 304 and 316 stainless steel, PTFE, ceramic, glass, nylon, or tungsten carbide, allowing the instrument to be matched to the process fluid and operating conditions.
As a result, there is an appropriate configuration for virtually any application, from analytical gas flow measurement to general process utilities.
One feature that makes a significant difference in day-to-day laboratory operation is that OMEL rotameters are calibrated specifically for each application, with scales engraved according to the customer’s actual operating conditions.
This provides direct flow reading, eliminating the need for conversion tables or correction factors during measurement, reducing interpretation errors and improving laboratory efficiency.
For processes subject to pressure fluctuations, a differential pressure regulator can be integrated with the instrument to maintain a constant flow rate despite variations in upstream or downstream pressure.
Conclusion
Laboratories impose a unique set of requirements: small process volumes, high repeatability, compatibility with aggressive chemicals, and contamination-free operation.
OMEL DMD diaphragm metering pumps and DMP piston metering pumps provide the accuracy and material flexibility required for the precise dosing of reagents, additives, and active ingredients.
The BVM liquid ring vacuum pumps deliver the stable, oil-free vacuum essential for the deaeration of emulsions, such as sunscreens, as well as for sample preparation and other laboratory vacuum processes.
OMEL rotameters complete the solution by providing reliable local measurement of low liquid and gas flow rates, from chromatography systems to process utilities.
Together, these products cover the three core unit operations found in virtually every laboratory from precise dosing and vacuum generation to flow measurement supported by the engineering expertise and manufacturing tradition that OMEL has built over more than 70 years.
Because these same technologies are also available in industrial-scale versions, processes validated in the laboratory can be seamlessly scaled up to production without changing equipment suppliers or process technology.
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