Milestone’s digestion and clean chem products help Chemical Solutions Ltd. meet intense customer demands and throughput

Chemical Solutions Ltd. (CSL) started as an environmental laboratory but rapidly moved into nutritional supplements in support of California’s Proposition 65 where low level testing of Pb, As and Cd was required. Over the years, they have 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. Today, CSL continues to have a steady stream of requests for full validations and product screenings, resulting in a sample workload of approximately 4000 per month, carried out by 6 full-time and 1 part-time technicians, running samples two shifts a day and five days a week. To keep up with the demand of their current workload and quick turnaround times, CSL employs 7 ICP-MS and 2 ICP-OES instruments 24 hours a day, 5 days a week using very sophisticated methods and processes.

Chemical Solutions’ laboratory requires sample prep solutions which allow them to meet their requirements for extraordinary sample throughput, quick turnaround, and ability to handle a vast array of sample matrices, both simple and complex.

The capabilities of Milestone’s ultraWAVE allow CSL to process mixed sample products in the same run and gives them comfort that all samples are reaching the same high temperature and pressure, which speeds up processing and avoids the need to re-digest samples. In addition, due to the ultraWAVE’s lack of venting, recoveries even for volatile elements such as mercury, sulfur and even osmium are no longer a problem.
ETHOS UP rotor-based microwave and traceCLEAN acid steam cleaning system further complement their sample prep portfolio. The ETHOS UP is used for large batches of the same matrix which can be digested with less aggressive temperatures and pressures.
traceCLEAN acid steam cleaning system ensures all sample preparation components are clean from metal contamination prior to sample digestion and subsequent analysis. Moreover, it eliminates the need to use the microwave systems to clean components which cuts into sample throughput.