Applications of Osmometers
Osmometers are used in a broad spectrum of applications in biopharmaceutical and clinical labs.
Biopharmaceutical labs benefit from routine osmolality testing in the development and manufacturing of biologic drugs. The use of osmometers offers more confidence in the process by enabling better control over titer, yield, quality and purity.
Clinical labs use osmometers to test osmolality of body fluids including but not limited to plasma, serum and urine for diagnostic purposes and for monitoring treatment responses. They help clinicians make more timely diagnoses, institute more appropriate patient care and reduce healthcare costs for medical institutions of any size, in any setting.
Types of Osmometers and their operating principle
Most modern osmometers share a common principle: They measure the osmolality of a liquid sample by comparing a particular parameter of the solution, such as its freezing point, to the same parameter of the pure solvent (e.g. water).
There are two major types of osmometers commercially available, each leveraging a particular parameter to achieve their analytical results:
- Freezing Point Osmometers monitor how a sample’s freezing point changes according to its solute concentration. With a precisely linear correlation between a sample’s freezing point and its osmolality, freezing point osmometry offers the most accurate assessment of osmotic concentration.
- Vapor Pressure Osmometers determine the concentration of osmotically active particles that reduce the vapor pressure of the solution. Thereby they use the relationship between boiling point and vapor pressure to measure solute concentration.