A Comparative Study of the Auto Burette and the E-Burette

• November 27, 2020
• ENQUIRE NOW

Typically, a burette is a graduated glass tube with a tap at one end which is commonly used to carry out a titration. Titration is a quantitative laboratory analysis where a solution of a known concentration (titrant) is used to determine the unknown concentration of a second solution (analyte) once the reaction reaches its end-point.

Over time, the face of a traditional glass burette has changed to factor in ease of use and conduct titration in a more efficient manner. On this note, today we’ll discuss two types of burettes – the Automatic Burette and the E-Burette – and what makes the latter superior.

Automatic Burette

An automatic burette is similar to a glass burette. It consists of a thick flask with ground glass joint which is designed to position the burette. The burette is filled with the help of a rubber pump which is attached to the reagent bottle assembly. On compressing the pump, air pressure is generated in the bottle which makes the liquid rise to the top of the burette. With the capillary tube being slightly above the zero line, the solution level in the burette remains fixed. To deliver the same amount of reagent every time, the burette automatically adjusts to zero.

The automatic burette is easy to use and more efficient than an ordinary glass burette. However, it is not the best solution to carry out precise, accurate and easy titration processes. Filling an automatic burette is a tedious task. There are certain steps that need to be carefully followed to fill the burette, as listed below:

• Carefully remove the burette from the flask and place it on a table.
• Fill the flask with the required reagent and make sure that the reagent fills at least a quarter of the flask.
• Place the burette back on the flask and close the release valve stopcock.
• Grab the burette and flask neck with one hand, while covering the vent tube with the fingers of the same hand.
• Squeeze the rubber pump with the other hand to pump air inside the burette flask.
• The reagent should begin to climb up through the capillary tube and begin filling the burette.
• When the reagent from the tube is above the capillary exit, slowly remove your fingers, releasing the pressure from the flask. This causes the reagent from the capillary to drain back in the flask, removing the excess liquid, leaving the level of the reagent to match the first point of the scale i.e., zero.
• Drain the reagent from the tube to remove the air from the outward tube and needle-valve, then repeat the filling.

 

E-Burette

To address the shortcomings of the existing burettes in the market, the electronic burette, like Microlit E-Burette, was designed to perform accurate and quick titrations.

The E-Burette designed by the product engineers at Microlit offers sophisticated features and functionality like – motor controlled piston movement, touch screen enabled control panel with graphical user interface (GUI), one touch filling operation and three calibrated pre-set speeds to perform highly accurate titrations.

Features that Help E-Burette Take Precedence Over Automatic Burette

1.3 Pre-set Speeds for Dispensing

Microlit E-Burette comes with 3 calibrated pre-set speeds, including dropwise dispensing that allows the user to perform accurate, quick and convenient titrations. Microlit E-Burette enables the user to dispense a minuscule droplet of 0.01 ml and gives high control over the dispensing speed.

• High Speed Dispensing: Dispenses at 1.517 ml/sec
• Low Speed Dispensing: Dispenses at 0.491 ml/sec
• Dropwise Dispensing: Dispenses at 0.010 ml/sec

2.Motor Controlled Piston Movement

The burettes available in the market consist of a manual dispensing wheel. To perform titrations, this wheel is rotated by the user. The speed of this wheel is not fixed and varies from one user to the other. These abrupt changes and variation in the speed of rotation can cause the results to be inaccurate and imprecise as per the ISO 8655 guidelines.

The Motor Controlled Piston in the Microlit E-Burette is an innovative design solution that addresses the shortcomings of the current burettes. The introduction of Motor Controlled Piston in place of the manual handwheel operation eliminates inconsistencies that arise due to the variations in user speed.

3.One Touch Filling Operation

While the filling of an automatic burette can be a tedious task, the E-Burette can be quickly and effortlessly filled within seconds. No manual valve/wheel rotation is required, no rubber bulb compression is required. Filling the E-Burette is as easy as ONE-TOUCH on the screen.

4.Computer Connectivity

The E-Burette offers computer connectivity and can store upto 20 readings in its memory. This feature helps the users in recording and saving the titration experiment readings over a computer/laptop conveniently and accurately.

5.Microlit E-Burette: For Phenomenal Titration Accuracy

As it has already been established, automatic burettes take precedence over the conventional glass burettes but the newly introduced E-Burettes have been designed keeping in mind the ease of the user and the accuracy that is required in the results they are expecting to achieve.

To know more about Microlit E-Burette, write to us at info@microlit.com