Patent ID: 7544301

Claim:
A method of making a dialysate and circulating the dialysate comprising: (a) providing a dialysis apparatus comprising a conductivity sensor for measuring conductivity of a solution and a dialyzer having a dialysate side and a blood side; (b) providing a dry base concentrate comprising a citrate, bicarbonate and a salt, wherein a sodium contribution of the dry base concentrate to the dialysate ranges from 100 to 150 mEq/L and wherein ratio of bicarbonate (mEq/L) to citrate (mEq/L) in the dry base concentrate ranges from 50:1 to 15:8; (c) providing an acid concentrate comprising an acid selected from the group consisting of acetic acid, citric acid and lactic acid, wherein (i) a sodium contribution of the acid concentrate to the dialysate ranges from 10 to 20 mEq/L, (ii) the combination of the sodium contributions of the dry base concentrate and the acid concentrate to the dialysate ranges from 125 to 150 mEq/L and (ii) the base concentrate and the acid concentrate are separated into separate containers; (d) mixing said base concentrate, said acid concentrate, and water so as to produce dialysate; (e) measuring conductivity of said dialysate with said conductivity sensor; and (f) circulating said dialysate to said dialysate side of said dialyzer if said conductivity of said dialysis solution ranges from between about 12.5 and about 15.7 mS/cm and not circulating the dialysate if said conductivity falls outside of said conductivity range.