# lab profile

374 Labs is one of the first cannabis-testing labs to be awarded a testing license in the state of Nevada. ultraWAVE allows mixed sample types to be digested in the same run, while ensuring all samples reach the same high temperature and pressure needed for complete digestion. 374 Labs has doubled its sample throughput.

As a world leader in supplement manufacturing, 4Life has offices on five continents serving a global network of independent distributors through science, success, and service. Previously, they'd outsource elemental testing to a third-party contract lab. As the company grew, so did their number of lab samples. One of the primary challenges they faced was the turnaround time for results, as well as, spending a significant amount of money for lab services. Given the capabilities and ease of use associated with the ultraWAVE, their sample preparation bottleneck was completely removed and their chemists could spend their time and focus developing and validating methods for the ICP-MS.

The ACEA Group deals with waste management, handling over 1 million tons of waste every year. Its activities are mainly concentrated in Italy but they are also present in some Latin American countries including Colombia, Honduras, Peru and the Dominican Republic. The main reason why they decided to switch to microwave assisted extraction technique was the need to reduce time per analysis and to process some of the most difficult and polluted matrices avoiding high maintenance costs and tedious cleaning steps. With the ETHOS X implementation, ACEA could process a full suite of matrices,even those with high plastic content that could not be processed with PLE. This allowed ACEA to expand its department’s application range and increase its productivity.

ACZ Laboratories has increased their overall productivity and marketability of mercury in solids analysis by lowering the detection limit and eliminating the sample prep step. DMA-80 has greatly increased their efficiency and productivity in the analysis of mercury in solids, lowered costs through elimination of reagents, and greatly reduced the generation of hazardous waste. It has significantly lowered their method detection limits and helped ACZ to secure new testing contracts. Before implementing the DMA-80, their former method for analyzing mercury in solid matrices was EPA 7471A with CVAA.

The Albhades laboratory offers multidisciplinary analysis in the healthcare field (pharmaceutical, cosmetics and medical instrumentation. The laboratory has been growing rapidly in the last few years with many samples analyzed every day. That’s why the lab has been equipped with a Milestone ultraWAVE microwave digestion system and an ICP-MS respectively for sample preparation and trace metal analysis. Since these techniques require the use of high purity acids, the lab has decided to invest in buying the Milestone “Clean Chemistry” products. They chose the subCLEAN, which allows the internal production of their own ultra-pure acid.

Aquagro is a company specialized in exporting fresh swordfish to Europe from the South Pacific. Its primary goal is to deliver a superior service that provides its clients with complete comfort regarding the quality and safety of their seafood products. At Aquagro, 100% of the fish is inspected for mercury levels in order to meet all European consumer-safety regulations. Aquagro is capable of sampling about 6,500 samples every month. Aquagro’s testing lab was experiencing difficulties with handling large number of samples and rush deliveries that needed to be processed every day to ensure quality and compliance with European legal requirements and regulations. After evaluating many instruments, the Milestone DMA-80 evo direct mercury analyzer was the clear choice to meet Aquagro’s significant throughput needs.

Aquagro is a company specialized in exporting fresh swordfish to Europe from the South Pacific. Its primary goal is to deliver a superior service that provides its clients with complete comfort regarding the quality and safety of their seafood products. At Aquagro, 100% of the fish is inspected for mercury levels in order to meet all European consumer-safety regulations. Aquagro is capable of sampling about 6,500 samples every month. Aquagro’s testing lab was experiencing difficulties with handling large number of samples and rush deliveries that needed to be processed every day to ensure quality and compliance with European legal requirements and regulations. After evaluating many instruments, the Milestone DMA-80 evo direct mercury analyzer was the clear choice to meet Aquagro’s significant throughput needs.

The Palaeoworks Lab, based at the Australian National University, conducts research on the historical and current uses of mercury in Australia. The Palaeoworks Lab requires high precision analyses of mercury for their research. Previously the Lab was analysing mercury using an ICP-MS, which was not performing well with analyses of low mercury concentrations. The DMA-80 has been defined as an ideal equipment for teaching purposes as, it is cost effective to run, with an intuitive user interface that enables students to quickly understand the logic behind the equipment and to develop confidence in working with the instrument.

Chemical Solutions Ltd. has developed an expertise in developing spectrochemical methods for the digestion and accurate recovery of extremely low-level elemental constituents in complex pharmaceutical and nutraceutical matrices. Milestone’s ultraWAVE, ETHOS UP and traceCLEAN have all helped Chemical Solutions meet the needs of a large and diverse range of samples and customers while accommodating their intense workload and operation of multiple ICP and ICP-MS systems in a cost-effective manner.

Experimental Station for the Food Preserving Industry (SSICA) relied on hot block digestion systems that required long times to complete digestion and the final solutions often presented with a high residual carbon content that interfered with subsequent analysis. The ultraWAVE enabled the digestion of difficult matrices while obtaining very low blanks and no evidence of cross contamination. Any combination of sample types and weights with different acid chemistries can be digested in the same run.

East Kentucky Power Cooperative provides wholesale electricity to 1 million Kentucky residents. Milestone’s DMA-80 evo enables EKPC to meet all state and federal testing standards for mercury determination of coal samples within the required timelines. When compared to their prior method, the DMA-80 evo’s unique design has dramatically reduced the time spent on sample analysis and system maintenance.

Milestone's Extraction Technology helps increase productivity and lower operating costs for Environmental Testing Laboratory

Empresa Portuguesa das Águas Livres (EPAL) supplies water to approximately three million people. EPAL purchased an ICP-MS to perform trace metals analysis of water. This analysis could not be done with common analytical commercial concentrated nitric acid. As a result, the lab had to purchase expensive high-purity commercial nitric acid. The laboratory purchased Milestone’s duoPUR sub-boiling distillation system to produce their own high purity nitric acid at a dramatically reduced cost.

Eurofins’ Trace Element Laboratory in Auckland, New Zealand offers different services including testing water, air, soil, waste and other products to assess their quality and impact on health and the environment. At the Trace Element Laboratory in Auckland, New Zealand, Eurofins performed digestions using a heating block and perchloric acid. This approach was not only time consuming, but the large volumes of perchloric acid also posed a serious health and safety risk. The lab purchased Milestone’s ultraWAVE microwave digestion system as an alternative to the heating block. The ultraWAVE performed complete digestions of the lab’s samples, increasing throughput while removing the health and safety risk.

Exova is a global provider of laboratory testing advising and assuring services to many of the world’s most innovative companies. Exova’s Santa Fe Springs, CA, lab specializes in testing for the pharmaceutical and supplement industries. We had a wide range of pharmaceutical and supplement samples to digest for metals analysis, including many challenging matrices. In mid-2011 we invested in an ultraWAVE to help reduce our sample prep bottleneck. The ultraWAVE exceeded our expectations, increasing throughput, reducing costs, and improving digestion quality. It increased the sample digestion capacity of the lab by 50%-70%, but due to the large increase in our sample workload, we needed to further increase our sample prep capacity. In May 2012, we ordered a second ultraWAVE unit.

The Mediterranean Institute of Advanced Studies (IMEDEA) and the Marine Science Institute of Andalusía (ICMAN) are prestigious research centers belonging to CSIC (Higher Council for Scientific Research) closely linked to the University of the Balearic Islands and the University of Cadiz. The study of trace elements to ambient levels requires the use of high purity acid. Moreover, all the material used in the preparation of samples and subsequent analysis must be cleaned thoroughly with high purity concentrated acid. Therefore, buying high-quality acids is essential and it implicates high costs for the lab. Buying a sub-boiling distillation system, subPUR, and steam cleaning system, traceCLEAN, allowed the laboratory to produce their own high-purity acids and increased the overall efficiency of the cleaning materials being used. Furthermore, they led to a dramatic cost reduction and operation time.

The laboratories of the Iren Ambiente are able to offer environmental analysis and consultancy services concerning water, soil, waste and compost. The main reason why they decided to adopt the microwave solvent extraction technique was the need to overcome problems occurring with Pressurized Liquid Extraction technique when dealing with difficult matrices and the requirement to improve their productivity capacity. ETHOS X with the fastEX-24 rotor could increase their productivity and enabled to process even waste with high plastic content expanding their application range possibilities, with a significant increase in their lab’s workflow efficiency.

Jordi Labs is a leader in polymer analysis, serving a wide variety of industries including pharmaceutical, chemical and medical devices. For over 30 years, Jordi Labs has provided extensive and specialized analytical testing of polymers, additives, pharmaceutical products, and more. Our laboratory required a microwave system which could tackle the toughest polymers and samples we encounter, allowing us to provide our customers with the highest quality analytical data. “With the acquisition of the ultraWAVE, we can efficiently digest the toughest polymers for elemental analysis. Our workload typically involves digestion of various sample types. The ultraWAVE’s ability to digest different samples simultaneously, without cross-contamination, saves us a great deal of time and allows us to keep up with our throughput demands.”

Abua Ikem, Ph.D. is a Professor of Analytical Chemistry and the Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at Lincoln University. Dr. Ikem’s research laboratory performs trace metals analysis on a wide range of environmental and food samples. Mercury determination can be a challenging and time-consuming task when working with ICP-based techniques and CVAA. Direct mercury determination addresses the analysis needs for a wide array of matrices in a fast and accurate way and provides a great deal of flexibility, ideal for an academic lab.

Milestone's ETHOS X microwave enhanced extraction system can reduced the extraction time to 15 minutes. It also delivers a product with higher purity compared to traditional extraction methods that are based on the use of organic solvents