News from LabRulezICPMS Library - Week 33, 2025

Our Library never stops expanding. What are the most recent contributions to LabRulezICPMS Library in the week of 11th August 2025? Check out new documents from the field of spectroscopy/spectrometry and related techniques!

👉 SEARCH THE LARGEST REPOSITORY OF DOCUMENTS ABOUT SPECTROSCOPY/SPECTROMETRY RELATED TECHNIQUES

👉 Need info about different analytical techniques? Peek into LabRulezLCMS or LabRulezGCMS libraries.

This week we bring you guide by Agilent Technologies, brochure by Anton Paar and application notes by Metrohm and Shimadzu!

1. Agilent Technologies: AA Troubleshooting and Maintenance Guide 

Tips, tricks, and good advice for ensuring your AA instruments achieve the best performance

• Guide
• Full PDF for download

This Agilent guide provides practical advice for maintaining atomic absorption (AA) instruments, improving performance, and extending instrument lifespan. Based on survey data from 700 laboratories, key challenges include instrument downtime, sample preparation issues, and space constraints. Agilent addresses these through design features like compact instruments and high-performance consumables, including long-life UltrAA hollow cathode lamps with up to 30 % more sensitivity and lifetimes exceeding 8,000 mA hours.

The document offers troubleshooting tips for lamps, nebulizers, burners, and spray chambers. It emphasizes prevention—regular rinsing to avoid blockages, polishing burners, replacing pitted impact beads, and aligning burners correctly. For optimal results, it also covers flame chemistry adjustments, such as fine-tuning acetylene flow for nitrous oxide/acetylene flames. Multi-element lamps are shown to deliver performance comparable to single-element lamps when used under recommended conditions.

Accurate calibration standards are essential for reliable quantification. The guide explains the differences between Reference Materials (RMs) and Certified Reference Materials (CRMs), advising on preparation, matrix matching, contamination prevention, and storage. Agilent’s standards are manufactured in ISO-accredited facilities, traceable to NIST, and supplied with comprehensive Certificates of Analysis.

Finally, the guide outlines recommended daily, weekly, and periodic maintenance schedules, along with a list of key consumables to keep on hand. Agilent offers operating supply kits to support a year of routine operation, helping labs maintain consistent performance, minimize downtime, and ensure data quality in flame, graphite furnace, and vapor generation AA systems.

2. Anton Paar: Solutions for Your Supreme Spirits

• Brochure
• Full PDF for download

Anton Paar offers a comprehensive range of solutions for precise, efficient, and regulation-compliant analysis of distilled spirits, liqueurs, and related products. Leveraging over 40 years of application expertise, their portfolio includes handheld devices, benchtop density meters, and modular multiparameter systems. These instruments deliver high accuracy—alcohol measurements with repeatability down to 0.01 % v/v—while reducing measurement times by up to tenfold compared with traditional distillation.

Key technologies like the Pulsed Excitation Method, FillingCheck™ for bubble detection, and U-View™ for visual sample verification ensure reliable results and streamlined workflows. Instruments are designed for durability, supported by a three-year warranty and a global service network. Applications span the entire production process—from raw material control and fermentation monitoring to distillation, blending, and final product bottling—covering parameters such as alcohol, extract, density, pH, color, turbidity, and sugar content.

Systems can be tailored for specific tasks, including wort and juice analysis, liqueur quality control, and safeguarding visual properties like color and clarity. Automation options, such as high-throughput sample changers and integration with AP Connect lab execution software, enable fully digital workflows and higher productivity. These solutions ensure consistent quality, tax compliance, and competitive advantage in the beverage industry.

3. Metrohm: Rapid phenotypic identification of microorganisms with Raman

A simple and nondestructive method for bacterial analysis

• Application note
• Full PDF for download

Raman spectroscopy is used in microbiology for its potential to identify bacteria and monitor metabolites. All living organisms on Earth are composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and other trace elements. These elements bond together to form DNA, lipids, amino acids, and other biomolecules. The composition of these biomolecules varies between organisms. Some bacteria store metabolites (e.g., polyphosphate and glycogen) depending on environmental conditions. The Raman spectra of bacteria reflect these chemical differences, enabling their identification and elucidating their roles in bioprocesses.

EXPERIMENT

Lysogeny broth (LB) agar culture media was prepared by dissolving LB powder and agar powder in deionized water following manufacturer specifications (Sigma-Aldrich). After autoclaving, the mixture was poured into sterilized glass petri dishes and cooled. Once the LB agar solidified, fingers were pressed onto the surface to transfer bacteria to the media. 

The petri dish was then incubated at room temperature until bacterial colonies were observed. The petri dish was placed on a BAC150B probe holder and BAC151C Video microscope, and Raman spectra were collected from colonies and the culture media (Figure 1). 

• Instrument setup: i-Raman Prime 785, i-Raman EX

CONCLUSION 

Raman spectroscopy can be used to acquire spectra of bacterial colonies directly from solid culture media. Raman spectra collected with 785 nm excitation provides higher resolution, while excitation at 1064 nm reduces fluorescence from culture media. Simple bacterial colonies can be differentiated using PCA models, but advanced machine-learning algorithms can be used to characterize more complex microbial communities. Users can easily export the spectral files from i-Raman instruments for further analysis using BWSpec software or other more advanced machine learning tools.

4. Shimadzu: TOC and TIC Analysis in Hydroxide Solutions Using High-Temperature Catalytic Combustion 

• Application note
• Full PDF for download

User Benefits

• TOC and TIC of hydroxide solutions such as NaOH and KOH can be determined using a TOC-L analyzer
• The internal acidification function minimizes the volume of acid required and reduces the time spent on sample preparation.
• The High salt combustion tube kit prolongs the service life of the combustion catalyst

Hydroxide solutions, especially sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and potassium hydroxide (KOH), are commonly used in chemical, industrial, and environmental processes. These solutions neutralize acids to form water and salts, a process that is essential in various reactions. As strong bases, NaOH and KOH play a significant role in the production of a variety of goods, including soap, through the saponification process (Figure 1), in which they react with oils and fats. However, organic contaminants in these chemicals can lead to impurities, necessitating quality control of the reactants to ensure product integrity.

Furthermore, hydroxides are potent CO₂ absorbers. They form carbonate and bicarbonate ions when they bind CO₂. Their solutions are used for various purposes, including sequestering fossil fuel emissions, which can be quantified by measuring total inorganic carbon (TIC). 

KOH is an essential electrolyte in the alkaline electrolysis of green hydrogen. Total organic carbon (TOC) limits must be maintained to ensure the smooth operation of this sensitive technology. Analytical quality control of hydroxide solutions is therefore necessary to ensure product quality and uphold process efficiency of alkaline electrolyzers.

Measurement conditions TOC analysis

• Analyzer: TOC-L CxH (CxN possible for NPOC analysis only) 
• Catalyst: Saline 
• Meas. Parameter: NPOC (Direct method TOC=NPOC) 
• Calibration curve: 5-point NPOC calibration using automatic dilution function in the range of 0,1 - 10 mg/l, 10 mgC/l KHP standard solution 
• Acidification: H₂SO₄ 4mol/l, acid addition 12 % 
• Sparge settings: 5 min. (internal). 80 ml/min
• Injection settings: 150 µl, 3 / max. 5 injections Multiple injections ON 
• Other settings: Correction of dilution ON

TIC analysis results 

The results of the analysis of the KOH and NaOH solutions using the TIC method are shown in Table 5. The calibration stock solution with a TIC concentration of 10 mg/l was used as the control standard as well. Since the TIC concentrations of the KOH and NaOH samples were higher than the calibration span, the instrument automatically re-sampled and re-measured the samples with an increased internal dilution factor using the "correction of dilution" function. These results demonstrate the method's good recovery and robustness. 

The limit of quantification (LOQ) of the method was determined to as ten times the standard deviation of a sixfold injected pure water blank sample. 

TIC LOQ: 10 x 0,006 mg/l = 0,06 mg/l.

TOC-L system configuration 

For the analysis, a TOC-L CPH was retrofitted with a combustion tube for high-salt samples, operating at 680°C. As a precautionary measure, an SO₃ mist catcher was also installed (see Fig. 4). Combusting at temperatures below the melting points of common salts (particularly sulfates) mitigates blockages caused by molten salt. Instead, the salt precipitates as a powder on the catalyst. The High Salt Kit also includes a catalyst tube with an increased diameter, a mixture of catalyst beads of various sizes, and ceramic mesh to replace the standard platinum nets. This increases the catalyst replacement interval at high salt loads. 

The combustion of excess sulfuric acid produces sulfur dioxide (SO₂), which then catalytically produces sulfur trioxide (SO₃) in an oxygen atmosphere. This can lead to interference in the CO₂ detection flow line, potentially resulting in false high TOC readings and peak tailing. Furthermore, the combustion products of large amounts of H₂SO₄ are corrosive and can damage the NDIR detector over time. The optional SO₃ mist catcher removes these unwanted combustion products from the sample gas. It is installed after the dehumidifier and before the halogen scrubber in the TOC-L flow path.