Overcoming the problem of boiling acids in the laboratory without dissolving both the hotplate and the samples, not to mention distorting results by metal contamination, is the sort of challenge Bibby Sterilin likes to take on.

Yet again, they have come up with the answer - a completely metal free hotplate.

A heated glass ceramic plate mounted in a block of pure PTFE provides a hotplate which is completely sealed and impervious to attack from concentrated hydrochloric, nitric or sulphuric acids.

To ensure complete decontamination, the hotplate can be thoroughly washed in a cleaning or sterilising solution, and its metal free construction even allows washing with acids to remove all traces of metal contamination. For users boiling acid solutions to dissolve the sample and not the hotplate, the new PTFE/ceramic hotplate is just the job.