One of the questions we are often asked is “can you tell me what’s in my product as it is not the colour it should be?”

CHNOS analysis is not likely to be of much use in these instances as the trace contaminant can be very small and so would not show any significant deviation from theoretical values. A common cause of products failing colour specification is trace metal contamination. We are able to analyse for any or all of 66 metallic elements (from Lithium to Bismuth) by ICP-OES following acid digestion.

Usually the customer has an idea of where the contamination has occurred and wants an empirical verification of this. For example a stainless steel reaction vessel breaking down and allowing component metals, such as chromium, nickel, manganese, tin and iron to taint the batch.

We are able to take a portion of their sample, digest it using a microwave reactor system and look for any metallic elements present. By analysing known good batches of product we can compare the results and inform the customer of any differences.quickly and accurately.