Drying ovens or ovens are equipment used to dry and sterilize the instruments that are used in laboratories, whether made of glass or metal. They are of vital importance since these are the ones that guarantee the sterilization of the glassware, they are the previous step to any procedure. Ovens are used more to dehydrate reagents or dry instruments.
It achieves this, thanks to the fact that inside the temperature is higher than in the environment. According to its mode of operation, there are basically two types of stove: those that operate through natural convection and those that operate through forced convection.
Sterilization can be carried out through a laboratory oven, which is effective inside the oven and is called dry heat sterilization, which is carried out only at 180 ° C for 2 hours. During this process, the glass or metal is heated by air at a high temperature, eliminating the possibility of any type of biological activity. Because of this, to achieve sterilization of the material using dry heat, higher temperatures must be applied for a longer time.