SRC microwave digestion Archive

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.

The ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) Research Laboratory in the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences at University of Houston specializes in characterizing the elemental and isotopic compositions of materials. This lab is capable of analyzing all types of geological materials including rocks, minerals, natural fluids and organic materials including crude oil with high precision. “Multiple projects were conducted at the facility concurrently and we experienced an immediate need for better instrumentation to replace our current traditional bomb method of digestion, lasting greater than 48 hours for the toughest of samples.” With the aid of the ultraWAVE microwave digestion system, that can digest up to 22 samples with mixed acid including HNO3, HCl and HF under high temperatures (up to 260°C) and high pressure (up to 150 bar), the laboratory has been successfully digesting various geological rock samples (mantle rock, volcanic rock, sediment and metamorphic rocks), zeolite, polymers, and heavy crude oils.

Valisure is the first and only pharmacy to independently batch-test the medications they receive to confirm the drugs are suitable for their customers before they dispense them. Valisure gained the ability to process mix-batch samples with microwave digestion, from pharmaceutical to supplement samples, from creams to topicals to tablet in a single sample preparation process. getting reliable recoveries for volatile elements such as mercury and sulfur

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.”

NEOTRON Pharmaceutical Analysis Laboratory provides compliant testing for pharmaceutical companies and industries in compliance with good manufacturing practice (GMP). Their analytical expertise offers a broad portfolio of tests on several matrices, such as APIs, excipients, and primary packaging materials. “We had an increased demand to digest a wide range of pharmaceutical and raw material samples for metals analysis, many of which included challenging matrices” ”In mid-2017, we invested in an ultraWAVE to help reduce our sample prep bottleneck. The ultraWAVE exceeded our expectations, increasing the sample digestion capacity of the lab by 35%, while reducing costs, and significantly improving digestion quality.”

NOW Foods is a nutraceutical and dietary supplement company. Its quality control labs have a wide range of samples to digest and analyze for trace metals analysis. The ultraWAVE replaced our existing closed vessel microwave and doubled our sample digestion capacity – without increasing our sample prep labor hours. With the ultraWAVE we are able to digest difficult samples such as fish oil gelcaps and we can digest higher sample weights than closed vessel digestion.

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.

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.