New FDA-Approved Medical CO₂ Lab

Middlesex Gases, a leading supplier of specialty, medical, and industrial gases in New England, now has the capability to manufacture medical-grade, FDA-approved CO₂ in-house at its Everett, Massachusetts, headquarters and filling plant.

Medical CO₂ is a gas 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, we decided it was time to take matters into its own hands by building a medical CO₂ lab.

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 medical CO₂ lab up and running was a yearlong process that required a significant investment in technology, equipment, and systems, all of which had to meet stringent FDA requirements. The result has been well worth it. We now have a state-of-the-art, automated, and highly efficient FDA-approved medical CO₂ lab, making us one of only two gas manufacturers on the East Coast—and one of three through the entire United States.

One of the central and distinct features of our lab is the medical CO₂ analysis system was custom-built by our Manager of Bulk Fleet & Filling Operations, Shane Poole, and his team of gas experts. They 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.

Our company also installed a 30-ton 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, we will have ample capacity and flexibility to escalate production, increase supply, and expand service.

Middlesex Gases builds its second gas lab in two years

The medical CO₂ lab is just one example of how we are constantly improving the way we serve the gas requirements of our customers. We 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 us to offer gas solutions to a wide range of businesses throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Southern New Hampshire, and Eastern Connecticut.

Our team has learned that it’s almost always better for us and our customers when we take control of our own destiny. We are dedicated to continuing to invest and expand as necessary to meet the evolving gas requirements of the organizations we serve.