Spotlight Food & Beverage Analysis TOC/COD in Cheese Production
Large cheese producers are looking for a reliable COD measurement to optimise the production of cheese and reduce the surcharges in the wastewater treatment. The idea is to separate the high strength waste from the low strength waste. The low strength waste could be sent directly to the sewer without treatment. The high strength waste could be diverted to where it could separated and recover the milk products for re-use in production. This idea would potentiallly save thousands of pounds in sewage surcharges and yield more products from the same amount of milk.
There are several things in this process that makes this a difficult measurement. The untreated wastewater in cheese production has very high concentrations of salt, milk fat, raw milk and high levels of suspended solids. In addition the waste stream also has a pH that varies from 4pH to 12pH due to the clean in place (CIP) processes. To make this idea pay off there would have to be a reliable/repeatable systems with minimal maintenance. It has been determined that a correlation could be made between COD and TOC in this application. It is also possible to use TOC to monitor CBOD (carbonatious Biological Oxygen Demand). The only way to perform the correlation in this application is high temperature combustion in a range of 100 – 10,000 mg/l TOC.
The Metrohm LAR QuickTOC is chosen for a number of reasons, first because of the high concentrations of salt in the process, a system with a large reaction chamber and very high temperature was needed. The LAR reaction chamber is the largest of any on-line TOC system, coupled with the 1200°C furnace made this the ideal choice. At 1200°C Sodium Chloride (salt) passes through the reaction chamber reducing the maintenance time required. The second reason is the high concentration of suspended solids in the sample. The QuickTOC using the patented LAR flow sampler can handle high concentration suspended solids in a waste stream without pre-filtration. This in conjunction with the large bore tubing used for sample transfer and an innovative method of delivering the sample into the reaction chamber proves to be the lowest maintenance and the most reliable method.
Circle no. 355
Wine Analyser Based on FT-IR Spectroscopy
At Analytica 2010, Bruker Optics announced a new dedicated, turn-key analyser for the quality control of wine, based on its well- established, award-winning ALPHA Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer.
FT-IR spectroscopy is a popular technique that is commonly used for the quality control of wines. Compared to other wet- chemistry and separation techniques, FT-IR allows wine makers to monitor various parameters within a single measurement run.
ANALYTICA NEWS
The new ALPHA Wine Analyser opens new dimensions for improved wine analysis, using the ATR (Attenuated Total Reflection) FT- IR sampling technique that only requires a drop of wine for analysis. Traditional infrared spectroscopy based wine analysers have relied on transmission sampling techniques, where the results were affected by the thickness of the sample cell. FT-IR spectroscopy utilising ATR is significantly less sensitive to particles and gas bubbles in the sample, providing more reliable and robust results.
The ALPHA Wine Analyser, with its new measurement technique does not require any time-consuming sample preparation process, for example, samples can be directly deposited onto the sampling area, and the results are ready in seconds. The software automatically calculates the concentration of the quality parameters such as alcohol, density, pH, various sugars and acids.
Bruker Optics collaborated with leading wineries and wine research centres all over the world to develop the start-up calibrations for the ALPHA Wine Analyser, which can easily be adapted to individual needs. The user can optimise existing calibrations, can add new parameters to improve calibrations, or create new calibrations based on entirely new products like ‘must’, ‘must under fermentation’ or ‘finished wine’.
The ALPHA Wine Analyser is a very compact, lightweight system that can easily be transported to different locations. The ALPHA Wine Analyser offers a variety of operation modes: manual, semi-automated and fully automated with an autosampler. The instrument is easy to operate, offers low cost of ownership, and the cleaning of the sampling module does not require any solvents or consumables. The ALPHA can also be used in the laboratory to measure a variety of different samples like juices, oils, or even sediments and solids.
Circle no. 356 Determination of Steviol Glycosides in Consumer Sweeteners
Dionex announced a new method for determination of steviol glycosides in consumer sweeteners, which is precise, accurate, and more efficient compared to existing methods (USP and JECFA monographs). Application Note 241: Determination of Steviol Glycosides by HPLC with UV and ELS Detections describes a method that uses the Acclaim® of interest.
Steviol glycosides, such as stevioside and rebaudioside A, are of interest as commercial sweeteners in foods and beverages. The U.S FDA recently approved the use of rebaudioside A for use as a sugar substitute in foods. The method described in Application Note 241 uses the HILIC mode of the Acclaim mixed-mode column, thereby allowing separation of multiple steviol glycosides. The volatile mobile phase makes ELS detection feasible, adding flexibility for the detection of glycosides that do not have strong UV extinction coefficients. Reduced solvent use is also demonstrated, thereby eliminating waste and saving time and resources.
Circle no. 357 Identifying Cannabinoids in Baked Goods with Minimal Sample Preparation
Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc announced a new method for identifying marijuana cannabinoids in baked goods that is faster, easier-to-use and requires less sample preparation. Using ultra high performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry detection (UHPLC/MS), the application tests baked goods samples obtained from a local state police forensic laboratory and is detailed in the application note ‘Identification of Cannabinoids in Baked Goods by UHPLC/MS’. The evidence is first screened for marijuana using simple chemical tests, such as the Duqenois-Levine test and then gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) is used to positively identify cannabinoids. This conventional technique works well for leaf marijuana, hashish and residue collected from smoking paraphernalia. UHPLC/MS however is an alternate method for identifying marijuana cannabinoids in complex food matrices such as baked goods.
Incorporating the Thermo Scientific Accela UHPLC system, the Thermo Scientific MSQ Plus Mass Detector, a single quadrupole mass spectrometer and Thermo Scientific Xcalibur
software, the system detected marijuana cannabinoids, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabinol and cannabidiol in the baked goods, a complex food matrix. The team delivered results with simpler sample preparation, no derivatisation and less instrument clean-up time.
The team extracted and separated cannabinoids on a Thermo Scientific Hypersil GOLD PFP column, and it showed that the cannabinoid standards eluted with good resolution at 4.1 minutes (cannabidiol), 5.1 minutes (THC) and 5.4 minutes (cannabinol). The extracts from a brownie and a cookie eluted at 5.1 minutes, testing positive for THC, demonstrating how little sample preparation is required for this method. It is simpler, faster and requires less sample material than traditional GC/MS techniques. Preparation time of ten minutes and a total run time of eight minutes shows the efficiency of UHPLC/MS detection. The Accela™ is a high-speed chromatographic system that provides fast and efficient chromatographic separations over a range of flow rates and pressures. It features optimised system delay volumes for fast separations and flexible sample format. The innovative quaternary pump is capable of conventional and ultra- high pressures while the Thermo Scientific LightPipe technology provides maximum sensitivity and resolution.
Circle no. 358 Mixed-Mode WAX-1 column to separate multiple steviol glycosides
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