Our company has only one infrared, but it is necessary to test all the reagents purchased, so as to control the production quality. The leader gave me an arduous and glorious task, which is still in the undergraduate internship period, to set up the company's chemical laboratory, and then we can independently test all the purchased reagents.

Reagents are mainly additives used in plastic production, such as flame retardants, antioxidants, etc.

How can I build a real chemistry laboratory from scratch?

No best answer

Generally speaking, the order is as follows:
1. Set the project
It is obviously impossible for only one infrared to complete the "all" items of "all" reagents. What you need to do in this step is to clarify which reagents are available, and to know each one. Then, which items need to be tested for each reagent. Generally speaking, if there are national standards or industry standards, the national standards and industry standards shall prevail. You need to communicate clearly with your reagent supplier on what standard he is shipped from, if it is an enterprise Standards require him to provide analytical methods.
Are you sure you want to test the "all" items of the "all" reagents? It is best to make it clear to your leader that this requires a lot of money. In fact, under normal circumstances, we are testing the key items that we are more concerned about. Well, suppose you test "all" items of "all" reagents, and it is a batch test, then by this time you should know every item and analysis method that each reagent needs to be analyzed (the standard will have).
2. Set the instrument
According to the item you want to analyze, determine the type and quantity of analytical instruments (including some auxiliary equipment, such as stirrers, beakers, etc.), and make a note about the quantity: for example, ten reagents need to detect density. In fact, you also Just buy a density meter. At this time, money is involved. If you have money, you can buy instruments with high reliability and high degree of automation. In this period, you also have to have a general idea about the layout of the laboratory, what equipment to put in which position, etc., and you also need to customize laboratory furniture, especially which experiments are to be carried out in a fume hood Yes, according to my experience, a fume hood is an existence you will never have too much. For water (such as deionized water pipelines), electricity (some instruments may require 380V electricity), gas (some instruments may require various gases, it is recommended that the more outlets of the gas path, the better, you never know what instruments to add in the future ) The requirements must be clearly stated with the designer.
3. Set workload and personnel
If the instrument purchased at the beginning is highly automated, then the workload will be smaller. I can only say that the workload between using the worst and best instruments (all instruments) may differ by more than 5 times. But no matter what equipment you are using, you must strive with your boss for the largest number of people within your abilities, because who still thinks that there are too many people. If there are too many people, just hire a few pretty girls as the scenery. If the number of people is related to performance, it really needs to be calculated carefully, but taking into account factors such as vacations, there is still a 10-20% mobility.