Tekmar Talk Blog

In September Pesticide Action Network North America and the National Resources Defense Council sued the Environmental Protection Agency to ban chlorpyrifos, an insecticide that is used on a variety of food and feed crops and golf courses. On its website, the EPA outlined that chlorpyrifos is used to:

It’s no secret that the honey bee is disappearing at an alarming rate and organizations from the public and private sectors are looking for ways to reverse the trend. In fact U.S. President Barack Obama announced in June the creation of a task force to address the diminishing population of honey bees and other pollinators. The efforts of the honey bee are critical for the food industry as they pollinate fruit, nuts and vegetables. “Globally, 87 of the leading 115 food crops evaluated are dependent on animal population.” In addition, these “Pollinators contribute more than $24 billion to the United States economy, of which honey bees account for more than $15 billion.”[i]

According to Duke Energy, approximately 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled into the Ohio River on Monday, August 18^th. The leak, which started around 11:15 p.m. during a routine transfer of fuel oil, was stopped by 11:30 p.m. The company notified local, state and environmental agencies, as well as the Coast Guard, Northern Kentucky Water District and Greater Cincinnati Water Works.

According to the American Chemistry Council, nearly 800,000 people in the United Sates are directly employed in the chemistry industry. In fact, chemical companies spent more than $56 billion in research and development in 2013, and 96 percent of all manufactured goods are directly touched by the chemical industry. In other words, a career in chemistry delivers a promising future.

In the first part of our series on headspace analysis, we covered the basics, from defining what it is and how it saves labs time and money to its uses in modern labs. In part two, we detailed how analysts can achieve the best performances using headspace/gas chromatography (GC) and the importance of correctly preparing samples for analysis. In the third part, we will focus on the three common techniques that are used to transfer a headspace sample from the vials to the GC. These include gas-tight syringe injection, balanced-pressure systems and pressure-loop systems.

In our first post about headspace gas chromatography (GC) analysis, we addressed the basics of the volatile components testing process. Static and dynamic headspace/GC analyses are surging in popularity driven by their ability to accurately determine blood alcohol levels and residual solvents in pharmaceutical production. As a result of their effectiveness, organizations in other industries such as cosmetics and food are using it to determine the presence and levels of volatile species in their liquid and solid samples. In this post, we will focus on how to get the best performance when implementing headspace/GC and the key issues to consider when preparing samples.

When it comes to determining the level of volatile species in solid, liquid or gas samples, one of the more popular techniques is Static Headspace analysis.

Introduction to Total Organic Carbon (TOC)

Benzene and Teledyne Tekmar

Benzene detection has been a frequent topic here at Teledyne Tekmar. In October 2013, we published an Application Note: “Achieving Low-Level Detection of Benzene in Beverages with an Automated Headspace Vial Sampler” and an accompanying webinar “Benzene in Beverages - How Low Can We Go” (to view the webinar, please click the button at the bottom of this blog).

When a NBC Nightly News story showed our instruments preparing water samples after the recent 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (MCHM) contamination of West Virginia drinking water, we felt like heroes, and yes, maybe a bit like parents. There was our very own Stratum Purge and Trap Concentrator and AQUATek 70 Vial Autosampler at work in Cincinnati’s Richard Miller Water Treatment Plant.