Autoclaves / sterilizers

Autoclaves are pressurised chambers that sterilise laboratory loads with saturated steam, holding instruments, media and waste at a set temperature and pressure for a timed cycle until all microbial life is destroyed. The listings span new, used and refurbished units, and of those on Questpair now, 76 percent are used. A typical benchtop cycle runs at 121 degrees Celsius under roughly one bar of gauge pressure, with higher settings used for denser loads. Steam sterilisation works because moist heat denatures proteins far faster than dry heat at the same temperature, which is why this class of laboratory sterilizer underpins so much routine decontamination. Current listings run from EUR 35 to EUR 99.002.