Bead baths: a sanitary alternative to water baths

Using metal beads to heat and cool: efficient, sanitary, sustainable

Utrecht Medical Center’s Nuclear Medicine unit uses bead baths as a sanitary solution for thawing radiopharmaceuticals. Heated beads do the job just as quickly as water.
The use of water baths for heating and cooling purposes comes with a list of familiar complaints: low water levels, limescale on the edges, and drips and spills when removing materials from the bath. Not to mention the wet mess created when baths are emptied. More importantly, water baths can be a microbiological hazard. Reason enough for UMC’s Nuclear Medicine department to invest in a metal bead bath.