What are the types of incubator?

Incubator is a device used to grow and maintain microbiological cultures or cell cultures. The incubator maintains optimal temperature, humidity and other conditions such as the CO (CO2) and oxygen content of the atmosphere inside. Incubators are essential for a lot of experimental work in cell biology, microbiology and molecular biology.

Two types of incubators are commonly used:

1. BOD incubators.

2. Bacteriological incubators.

The main difference between these two types of incubators is temperature.

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), sometimes referred to as biological oxygen demand, is a quantitative expression of microbes ability to deplete the oxygen content of a wastewater. This depletion takes place due to the microbes consuming organic matter in the water via aerobic respiration. This type of respiration uses oxygen as an electron acceptor, and the organic material being consumed provides the energy source. This organic matter also undergoes oxidation without the aid of microbes, which can be measured using the chemical oxygen demand (COD) procedure.

BOD incubators are normally rated in the range of 20°C to 60°C.

BOD incubator is the most versatile and reliable low temperature incubator which is designed to maintain at 20°C, necessary for Biological Oxygen Demand/Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) determination. BOD incubators provide controlled temperature conditions for accelerated tests and exposures. The biological oxygen demand (BOD) is an empirical test in which standardised laboratory procedures are used to determine the relative oxygen requirements of microbes in waste waters, effluents, and polluted waters and in simple words, It is a chemical process that determines how fast biological organisms use up oxygen in a body of water or it measures the oxygen required for the biochemical degradation of organic material (carbonaceous demand) and the oxygen used to oxidise inorganic materials, such as sulphides and ferrous iron The seeding and dilution procedures provide an estimate of the BOD at pH 6.5 to 7.5.

In Bacteriological incubators, the set temperatures are normally in the range of 10°C above ambient to 60°C.

For more information about incubators, contact Thermolab Scientific Equipments.