Choosing an appropriate digestion process for your laboratory

Quality analysis for ICP-MS and AA/ICP-OES analysis starts with good sample preparation and for this to be successful, effective microwave digestion is the first step. For reliable analyses, complete digestion is essential and should be coupled with high throughput, safety, and performance.

The range of sample types requiring microwave digestion and analysis for trace metals has grown significantly in recent years. At the same time, sample workloads have increased, and turnaround time reduced. In addition, the development of collision cell ICP-MS has widened its applicability to more complex sample types placing additional demands on microwave acid digestion and lower detection limits and fast analysis times require lower blank contribution and higher throughput.

Microwave digestion systems sometimes lack a particular specification such as capacity and temperature capability however the Milestone instruments from Analytix are a complete family of six systems that ensure all application requirements are met.

Three rotor based systems for batch processing are available. The ETHOS LEAN with a 14 place rotor was specifically designed to provide high-quality closed-vessel acid digestion for laboratories with limited throughput needs. 

The ETHOS EASY and ETHOS UP systems offer enhanced sample capacity with a choice of rotors from 15 samples to 44 plus microwave solvent extraction, high-temperature fusion, vacuum evaporation and even organic and inorganic synthesis or protein hydrolysis. The ETHOS EASY and ETHOS UP also offer multifunctional capabilities with digestion, extraction, and ashing all in the same system, perfect for laboratories with constant changing sample preparation requirements.

Three single reaction chamber (SRC) systems are available where any combination of sample types and weights with different acid chemistries can be digested at the same time so there is no need to batch samples of the same type into separate runs. Minimal handling also speeds up the preparation stage. A top temperature of 300°C and an operating pressure up to 199 bar enables complete digestion of the most difficult samples. 

The ultraWAVE systems can digest up to 40 samples from start to finish in 35 minutes and are available with 4 racks from 7 to 40 vials. The fully automated ultraCLAVE has 9 available racks with capacities from 3 to 77 samples.  

All Milestone microwave systems are controlled via a full-colour touchscreen interface and the enhanced systems offer full data storage and transfer to laboratory LIMS systems.

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