Clean bench

What is a Clean Bench?

A clean bench is a laboratory workstation designed to provide a controlled environment that minimizes contamination risk. It uses filtered air to create a sterile workspace, ensuring that the air surrounding sensitive materials is free of particulate contaminants. This is crucial for tasks where precision and contamination control are essential. 

The bench typically employs laminar flow technology, using a High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter to remove airborne particles. Clean benches are commonly used in fields such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and electronics, where contamination can compromise the quality of products or results.

Clean benches are different from other air filtration equipment like biosafety cabinets and clean rooms. They are often smaller, focusing on localized protection for a specific task. This makes them a more cost-effective and flexible solution for industries requiring clean environments for smaller-scale processes or specialized tasks.

How Does a Clean Bench Work?

Filtered Air: Clean benches use HEPA or ULPA filters to purify the air and remove particulate matter.

Laminar Flow: The air flows in a single direction—either horizontal or vertical—over the work surface to prevent contamination.

Sterile Workspace: Clean, filtered air is continuously supplied to the workspace, creating a barrier between the product and airborne contaminants.

How Does a Clean Bench Work

a clean bench operates by continuously circulating filtered air over the workspace to maintain a contamination-free environment, supporting clean and accurate work in a variety of laboratory and industrial settings.

What is the Difference Between a Clean Bench and a Clean Room?

Size and Application

A clean bench is a localized workstation, whereas a clean room is an entire environment designed to maintain strict air cleanliness levels across larger areas.

Environmental Control

Clean Bench: Focuses on providing a controlled environment over a small area for specific tasks.

Clean Room: Maintains cleanliness across an entire room, with higher air change rates and pressure control.

Key Differences

Clean benches are compact and more cost-effective than clean rooms, which are larger, complex, and require stringent maintenance. Clean benches are ideal for handling smaller items like lab samples, while clean rooms offer broad protection for entire processes or products in sterile conditions.

Clean room clean bench - E series - Clean Rooms International -  floor-standing / HEPA / vertical laminar flow

How Do I Use a Clean Bench?

Using a clean bench properly requires adherence to protocols that ensure contamination control and efficient airflow. To start, ensure that all surfaces are clean before use and that the HEPA filters are properly functioning. Avoid blocking airflow and always use sterile equipment to maintain a contamination-free environment.

Next, be mindful of your body movements, as excessive motion can disrupt the laminar flow and allow particles to settle on your work surface. After each use, clean the bench thoroughly, following a specific cleaning routine that includes wiping surfaces with sterile wipes and ensuring that all equipment is sterilized.

Lastly, always monitor airflow and the status of the HEPA filters. Ensure the fan is operating correctly and check for any blockages that may interfere with airflow efficiency. Regular maintenance and proper usage can ensure the clean bench operates at its peak efficiency.

How Do I Use a Clean Bench

What is the Purpose of a Clean Bench in Laboratories?

Clean benches provide a controlled workspace to prevent airborne particles from contaminating sensitive materials, ensuring the integrity of the process.

They are commonly used in procedures requiring sterility, such as preparing culture media, handling sterile instruments, or compounding pharmaceuticals.

Clean benches protect only a localized area, making them ideal for tasks that do not require the broad contamination control offered by a clean room.

By maintaining a sterile working environment, clean benches reduce the risk of contamination, improving the quality and reliability of research or production processes in laboratories.

Clean Bench & Laminar Flow

How Often Should the HEPA Filter in a Clean Bench Be Replaced?

The HEPA filter in a clean bench should be replaced every 6 to 12 months, depending on usage and environmental factors.

Factors Affecting Replacement：HEPA filter lifespan depends on usage frequency, air quality, and contamination levels in the workspace.

Monitoring Performance：Filters should be regularly inspected for clogging and efficiency. Loss of airflow indicates a need for replacement.

To maintain optimal performance, it's essential to check the filter regularly and replace it as recommended by the manufacturer or when airflow diminishes. This ensures the clean bench continues to provide the required level of particulate filtration.

Can a Clean Bench Be Used for Sterile Compounding?

Yes, a clean bench can be used for certain types of sterile compounding, but it is not ideal for all applications. The primary role of a clean bench is to provide a controlled, particulate-free environment, making it suitable for tasks like preparing sterile products or handling biological samples in non-hazardous environments. However, for procedures involving hazardous drugs, a biosafety cabinet would be more appropriate, as it offers additional protection for both the operator and the product.

stainless steel cleanbench

1. Sterile Compounding:

Clean benches are used in non-hazardous sterile compounding, such as preparing IV medications or working with biologics.

2. Limitations:

Unlike biosafety cabinets, clean benches do not provide air containment or exhaust for hazardous substances, which is crucial for worker safety during compounding of cytotoxic or chemotherapy drugs.

3. Key Differences:

For sterile compounding of hazardous substances, regulatory standards such as USP <800>and ISO 14644

recommend the use of a biological safety cabinet or isolator. Clean benches are suitable for less hazardous tasks, but for higher-risk materials, additional protective equipment and procedures are needed.

What Are the Advantages of Using a Clean Bench in Laboratories?

1. Minimized Contamination:

Clean benches effectively prevent the entry of airborne contaminants, ensuring a sterile work environment.

2. Increased Productivity:

They help improve research outcomes by maintaining a clean environment, reducing the risk of contamination and errors in laboratory processes.

3. Cost-Effective Solution:

Compared to clean rooms, clean benches are more affordable and easier to install, making them a practical choice for smaller scale applications like cell culture or sample preparation.

Biobase Super Clean Bench Horizontal Laminar Flow Cabinet CE Standard Class  100 Clean Room Laminar Flow Cabinet - Laminar Air Flow Cabinet, Clean Bench  | Made-in-China.com

Relevant Standards:

ISO 14644-1:Clean room and clean bench classification standards.

USP <797>:Recommendations for sterile compounding, including the use of clean benches for certain types of non-hazardous preparations.

FDA 21 CFR Part 820:Standards for contamination control in manufacturing environments.

Clean benches provide a cost-effective, controlled environment that reduces contamination risk in laboratory work. They are essential for industries requiring high-quality standards and contamination control.

Is a Clean Bench the Same as a Biosafety Cabinet?

No, a clean bench and a biosafety cabinet are not the same. While both provide controlled environments for handling materials, they serve different purposes and offer different levels of protection.

Relevant Standards:

ISO 14644-1:Defines clean room classifications and standards, applicable to clean benches and biosafety cabinets.

USP <797>:Provides guidelines for sterile compounding and differentiates between clean benches and biosafety cabinets in healthcare settings.

NIH Guidelines:Biosafety protocols requiring the use of biosafety cabinets for certain levels of hazardous work.

Key Differences:

Clean benches focus on particulate control and provide a sterile work environment. Biosafety cabinets offer additional containment features for handling hazardous materials.

Functionality:

Clean benches are suitable for non-hazardous work, while biosafety cabinets are essential for working with biohazardous or hazardous materials.

Safety Features:

Biosafety cabinets include features like a sealed workspace, negative pressure, and exhaust systems to protect both the user and the environment from potential contamination.

Clean Bench principle

The air is sucked into the pre-filter through the fan, and then filtered into the high-efficiency filter through the static pressure box, and then the filtered air is sent out in the state of vertical or horizontal airflow, so that the operation area reaches the cleanliness of class 100 to ensure the production of the cleanliness requirements of the environment. Ultra-clean bench according to the direction of airflow is divided into vertical flow ultra-clean bench and horizontal flow ultra-clean bench, according to the operation structure is divided into one-sided operation and bilateral operation of two forms, according to its use can be divided into ordinary ultra-clean bench and biological (medical) ultra-clean bench.

Clean Bench Requirements for use　

Every time you use the ultra-clean bench, the experimental staff should first turn on the ultra-clean bench on the ultraviolet lamp, ultraviolet irradiation for 20 minutes after use.　　

Turn on the ultra-clean bench power supply, turn off the ultraviolet lamp, and use 75% alcohol or 0.5% peroxyacetic acid spray wipe disinfection work surface.　　

Throughout the experimental process, the experimental personnel should operate in accordance with the aseptic operating procedures.　　

At the end of the experiment, wipe the worktable surface with disinfectant, turn off the work power, and turn on the UV lamp again for 15 minutes.       

In case of failure of the unit, you need to notify the laboratory immediately, and continue to use it after qualified maintenance by professional personnel.　

Experimenters in the laboratory should pay attention to keep the room clean and hygienic.　　

Ultra-clean workbench filter media need to be replaced every 2 years, and make a good replacement record to save the file.

Differences between biological safety cabinets and ultra-clean workstations

The difference between a biological safety cabinet and an ultra-clean bench lies mainly in its internal airflow operation, which determines its use.

Ultra-clean bench often uses a single positive-pressure vertical laminar flow or horizontal laminar flow airflow operation to create a cabinet of ultra-clean environment to ensure that the cabinet samples are not contaminated by outside air. And completely unable to protect the operator, involving any harmful microorganisms and toxic substances of the experiment can not be operated in its internal.

The biological safety cabinet using composite air intake, that is, to protect the samples from outside air pollution, but also to protect the operator from inhaling the microbial aerosols produced inside the cabinet and harmful chemical exhaust, to achieve a certain biosafety standards, so it can be called a biological safety cabinet. For more information on the operating principles and uses of biosafety cabinets, please refer to the contents of this video.