analysis | Odour and emissions
they will not transfer unpleasant smells and tastes to food products. “When addressing the food and beverage sectors in particular, the plastic industry is well aware of the challenges of controlling emissions and odours in materials and there are several international standards describing analytical methods for this purpose,” says Marion Bonnefille, Marketing Manager at the company. “The analytical methods described in the standards
Above: Alpha MOS developed the Heracles electronic nose, which is based on fast gas chromatogra- phy technology
Fraunhofer IVV we constantly encounter such contami- nants that may stem from chemical or physical (environ- mental) sources. We can support the problem-solving process and contribute to eliminate such contaminants by developing appropriate avoidance strategies. Moreover, we develop novel analytical procedures to target or rapidly detect such issues, aiming to strengthen and streamline quality control in industry.”
A better nose While the human nose can be exceptionally effective in odour detection, it is not so good at quantification and can be an inconsistent tool. French company Alpha MOS develops and manufactures electronic noses – analyti- cal instruments used in the plastics and packaging industries to detect possible off-odours in materials, to control their organoleptic conformity, and to check that
for evaluating odours in plastics rely mainly on human panel tests. Very often these tests require a long sample preparation step. Plastic materials must be soaked in water for hours, then water is tested by several panellists to detect possible odour or taste transfer from the plastic. Such tests can raise safety issues due to possible exposure to harmful or toxic compounds. In addition, the results can suffer a slight drift over time if assessors get used to minor differences that can occur over time in production,” Bonnefille says. To improve the analytical process Alpha MOS has
developed its Heracles electronic nose, which is based on fast gas chromatography technology. The company says this allows analysis of volatile compounds emitted by polymer and packaging materials directly, without any sample preparation. An amount of material is simply weighed into a vial, which is then sealed and heated in the auto-sampler oven to generate the headspace (volatile compounds emanating from the product). A fraction of this headspace is collected through a syringe by the auto-sampler, and injected onto the two chromatography columns of the electronic nose after pre-concentration on an embedded trap. The chromatography data can be processed as a global odour fingerprint to compare several samples or can be
Follow us on...
Be the first to know when we publish a new edition, plus updates on our conferences and useful links.
www.twitter.com/plasticsworld
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90