Middlesex Gases can now manufacture medical-grade FDA-approved carbon dioxide (CO2) in house at his Everett headquarters, one of three approved suppliers in the United States.
Medical CO2 is widely used throughout the medical, health care, life sciences, and biotech industries for everything from minimally invasive surgeries and cryotherapy to helping maintain the sensitive environment of lab incubators.
However, over the past two years, supply chain issues have made it increasingly difficult for Middlesex to secure this essential gas on a reliable basis for its customers. In April 2021, the company decided to take matters into its own hands by building its own lab.
Bo Martin, CEO of Middlesex Gases, said, “Quick and easy access to a steady, high-quality supply of medical CO2 is critically important to our customers and to the lives they serve. The only way we felt we could ensure consistency and availability of product was to expand our services beyond filling and distributing to manufacturing this essential gas.”
Getting the lab up and running was a year-long process that required a significant investment in technology, equipment, and systems, all of which had to meet stringent FDA requirements.
Middlesex now has a state-of-the-art, automated, and highly efficient FDA-approved medical CO2 lab, making it one of only two gas manufacturers on the East Coast.
Martin said, “Our specialty gas customers are important to us and we have invested over one million dollars in a new fully automated plant so we can continue to guarantee precise and accurate results every time we fill a cylinder or tank.”
One of the central and distinct features of the Middlesex lab is the medical CO2 analysis system that was custom-built by Middlesex’s Manager of Bulk Fleet & Filling Operations, Shane Poole, and his team of gas experts.
Poole said, “We specifically designed this system to test our manufactured medical CO2 product for 11 FDA-recognized contaminants. It is the absence of these contaminants that makes the CO2 we manufacture medical grade versus industrial or food grade and ensures it complies with full USP testing, which is a series of chemical tests that prove the product has less than the allowable contaminants as dictated by the FDA.”
Middlesex also installed a 30-tonne tank for storing raw product and a 14-ton tank for holding medical CO2, both of which are kept full 24/7. As demand goes up, the company will have ample capacity and flexibility to escalate production, increase supply, and expand service.
The company also made significant investments in a high-tech, multimillion-dollar specialty gas lab that went online in 2021, and a fleet of trucks and trailers, including a 10-ton medical CO2 bulk truck, that enables Middlesex to offer gas solutions to a wide range of businesses throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Southern New Hampshire, and Eastern Connecticut.
Martin said it learned that it’s almost always better to take control of its own destiny. He said, ”We are dedicated to continuing to invest and expand as necessary to meet the evolving gas requirements of the organisations we serve.”
