Centres Científics i Tecnològics UB

News

16.06.2021

New microwave sample digester

The CCiTUB Metal Analysis Unit has a new Milestone Ultrawave ECR microwave sample digester.

A large part of the solid samples that are analyzed in the Unit using atomic spectroscopy techniques (ICP-OES, ICP-MS) require a previous stage of digestion to be able to have them in aqueous solution. The most commonly used system for carrying out this solution is acid / oxidant digestion in closed reactors. The Unit already had a microwave digesting apparatus for discrete pressurized reactors, but the acquisition of the new equipment represents a significant improvement in the possibilities and capacity of sample treatment.

The new digestor equipment is a pressurized single reaction chamber type and allows working at pressures of up to 199 bar and temperatures up to 300 ˚C using quartz, glass or Teflon reactors depending on the conditions. Important advantages over the system available so far include the possibility of digesting samples of different types in parallel, working with smaller amounts of samples and reagents and a significantly higher sample processing capacity.

The equipment is now fully operational in the laboratories of the Metal Analysis Unit and complements the other sample treatment systems available so far in the Unit.

More information at: [+]