Can I Reuse Headspace Vials?

As said before, disposable vials are expensive, wasteful, and pollute the environment. Therefore, after cleaning, many laboratories use headspace vials. This is the most typical procedure for cleaning sample bottles in laboratories:
1. Adding washing powder
2. Adding the detergent
3. Adding the organic solvent
4. Adding the acid-base washing solutions
5. Then, you scrub the vial with a designed tiny test tube.

This traditional brushing approach has several flaws:
1. It uses a lot of soap and water.
2. Takes a long time to wash.
3. And it’s easy to leave dead corners.
If you do use headspace vials, you have to be careful.
1. The used crimp cap will leak if the sample in the headspace produces an aerosol pressure. That may impair the accuracy of the test findings. Thus it is not suggested to repeat it.
2. If you fill a vial twice, the second injection’s peak area will be more extensive.
3. You can’t reuse the cap of the headspace vials since it is damaged when removed. The cushion (septa) of the vials, on the other hand, you may use only two or three times.
You may pull each vial’s sample only once. Otherwise, the sample will be incorrect, and the amount of sample will diminish.