Abstract
In recent years, with the increasing public awareness of food safety, the government has placed greater emphasis on the food safety of agricultural products. Market supervision administrations at all levels undertake and execute tasks related to the supervision, sampling, and risk testing of agricultural products. Consequently, there is a significant increase in the demand for the construction of third-party agricultural product testing laboratories and rapid agricultural product testing laboratories. So, how to build a standardized agricultural product testing laboratory? How to design a reasonable laboratory layout? How to build a safe agricultural product testing laboratory? Guangdong Yizhou has many years of experience in laboratory construction and has developed a complete set of feasible solutions based on the characteristics of the agricultural product testing industry. Due to space limitations, we will briefly share some information here. For those who need a complete technical solution, please follow and contact the Guangdong Yizhou official WeChat account.
I. Layout of Agricultural Product Testing Laboratories
Agricultural product testing laboratories test agricultural products for microorganisms, pesticide residues, heavy metal content, veterinary drug residues, and conventional physical and chemical parameters. Therefore, the overall layout of the laboratory should be divided into: laboratory areas, offices, auxiliary laboratories, and common supporting facilities, ensuring clear functions and a rational distribution of functional rooms. Because agricultural product testing laboratories pose safety hazards, they need to be located away from residential areas and busy roads, avoiding flammable and explosive materials, biochemical pollution sources, and drinking water sources to prevent contamination.
II. Design of Agricultural Product Testing Laboratories
1. Electrical Design for Agricultural Product Testing Laboratories
Agricultural product testing laboratories utilize a large number of high-power experimental instruments and equipment. The power distribution capacity must meet the laboratory's power requirements, with sufficient power reserved. Many laboratory fires or explosions are caused by improper electrical use; therefore, circuit design is a crucial aspect of laboratory design. First, the power consumption of each functional room should be calculated, and standardized circuits and wiring should be configured according to the power requirements. Second, the circuit design must be scientific, the wiring must comply with national standards, and the laboratory acceptance process must be thorough to minimize electrical hazards. Third, high-power appliances such as high-temperature furnaces, autoclaves, and atomic absorption graphite furnaces should have separate circuits, paying attention to preventing excessive instantaneous current that can cause wire overheating. Many laboratory design companies only understand decoration and lack expertise in laboratory design, resulting in unprofessional laboratory designs that significantly disrupt laboratory operations and pose serious safety hazards. Finally, a safe grounding system should be designed. Specific grounding requirements for individual instruments need to be discussed in advance to avoid installation problems that could hinder the normal operation of the instruments.
2. Ventilation Design for Agricultural Product Testing Laboratories
The primary function of laboratory ventilation systems is to expel toxic and harmful gases from the laboratory, preventing laboratory personnel from inhaling these harmful substances. The design also includes a fresh air system to prevent prolonged oxygen deprivation for staff. Ventilation equipment in agricultural product testing laboratories includes fume hoods, atomic absorption hoods, and universal hoods. The collected gases must be treated before being released. Agricultural product testing laboratories deal with both organic and inorganic waste gases, and many laboratories lack the understanding that mixing organic and inorganic gases can lead to explosions. Therefore, the ventilation system in an agricultural product testing laboratory requires two independent systems that cannot be combined. The fans used are typically explosion-proof and corrosion-resistant, with PP centrifugal fans being commonly used. The chemical reagent storage area requires a separate ventilation system, as it needs independent control and cannot share the same system as the aforementioned ventilation systems.
3. Emergency Design for Agricultural Product Testing Laboratories
Because agricultural product testing laboratories use a large number of hazardous chemicals, in addition to normal fire safety facilities, they must also be equipped with emergency eyewash stations (installed at each sink) and emergency shower systems in appropriate locations. According to laboratory safety requirements, an emergency first-aid kit should also be provided, including commonly used items such as bandages, burn ointment, boric acid solution, and sodium bicarbonate solution, to prevent injuries from chemical splashes and to gain valuable time for subsequent laboratory rescue efforts.
4. Centralized Gas Supply System Design
The precision instruments in the agricultural product testing laboratory include high-performance liquid chromatographs, gas chromatographs, ion chromatographs, mass spectrometers, and atomic absorption spectrophotometers. These instruments require a wide variety of laboratory gases, including inert gases, flammable gases, and non-flammable gases. For laboratory safety, a centralized gas supply system is necessary. The design of this centralized gas supply system directly impacts the safety of gas usage in the laboratory.
Firstly, the gas cylinder room safety design is crucial. The gas cylinder room is the starting point of the gas supply, and most importantly, flammable gases and oxidizing gases must not be placed in the same room. For example, hydrogen and acetylene should not be placed in the same room as oxygen. Secondly, the gas cylinder room needs to be equipped with explosion-proof walls, explosion-proof electrical systems, and explosion vents. Gas monitoring sensors should also be installed, and if necessary, a ventilation system and monitoring sensors should be installed in the technical interlayer through which the gas pipelines pass.
5. Laboratory Air Conditioning System
Controlling the temperature and humidity inside the laboratory, in conjunction with the laboratory ventilation system, is essential to effectively maintain the required temperature, humidity, and pressure differential, providing a good working environment for personnel and equipment. If the entire building uses a central air conditioning system, modular management by zone and time period is necessary to prevent the inability to use the air conditioning during overtime hours from affecting the performance of the instruments. The layout of the central air conditioning pipelines should be integrated with the design of the laboratory ventilation and exhaust ducts to avoid overlapping during construction and affecting ceiling height. In extreme weather conditions, it should be ensured that areas with high temperature requirements, such as sample rooms, gas cylinder rooms, ultra-low temperature freezer rooms, instrument rooms, and uninterruptible power supply rooms, maintain a constant temperature 24 hours a day.