Historically, mini-plants have utilized oil-sealed rotary vane vacuum pumps as a vacuum source because they provide relatively high flow rates and because they can reach relatively deep vacuum levels, such as 10-3 mbar. The same can be said of kilo labs. However, rotary vane pumps also include several critical disadvantages which make their use in pilot plants and kilo labs suboptimal. Most notably, these disadvantages include significant maintenance requirements in terms of both time and material related costs. By switching from an oil pump to an oil-free technology such as a diaphragm pump, there are significant benefits to be realized. These benefits include better process control, chemically inert wetted materials, and significantly reduced maintenance.