Malvern Instruments to exhibit at easyFairs Solids
The focus on the Malvern Instruments stand at easyFairs Solids 2006 will be the Insitec T on-line, and the Insitec Aliss at-line, particle size analysers.
The focus on the Malvern Instruments stand at easyFairs Solids 2006 (scheduled for 1-2 November 2006 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry) will be the Insitec T on-line, and the Insitec Aliss at-line, particle size analysers. These laser diffraction-based systems are from the extensive range of Malvern on-line, in-line, at-line and off-line solutions for particle characterisation. Designed to produce continuous particle sizing information for real time process control, Insitec systems are both rugged and robust, reflecting the exacting demands placed on analytical instrumentation in a process environment.
The instrument, the process interface, analysis software, automation and data reporting can all be customised to the unique needs of individual clients.
The recently introduced Insitec Aliss at-line analyzer has applications in a wide range of processing industries, including powder coatings, minerals and cement.
It uses the same proven Malvern Insitec technology and platform normally employed for particle sizing on-line.
Users therefore gain access to this robust laser diffraction technology to make measurements in an automated laboratory, or manually close to the process line.
Malvern software to be used on FEI Quanta SEM
The FEI Quanta SEM and the Malvern Advanced Particle Analysis Software are being combined to deliver a ground-breaking solution for nanoscale applications.
The FEI Company and Malvern Instruments have entered into a joint development and marketing programme for advanced nanoparticle analysis utilising Malvern particle image analysis software on the FEI line of Quanta scanning electron microscopes (SEMs). The combination delivers a powerful particle analysis solution that extends current analysis technologies for nano-sized particles. FEI Quanta SEM units offer users the flexibility to analyse materials without imposing many of the traditional SEM sample preparation constraints, thereby greatly extending the applicability for particle analysis.
Malvern particle image analysis software will be optimised for the FEI Quanta SEMs.
A proven solution, this package is already used on Malvern systems that encompass traditional optical microscopes, such as the Morphologi G2, with many research and industrial users around the world.
These systems provide rapid data on particle size and morphology and yield distribution profiles for quality control and manufacturing applications.
Rationalising batch to batch variation of materials, identifying crystal polymorphisms and the identification of foreign bodies are just some of the current applications.
‘As the size of materials used in product development and manufacturing continues to move from the microscale into the nanoscale there is an increasing need for characterisation tools that move beyond the limits of light microscopy,’ commented Matt Harris, FEI vice president of worldwide marketing and business development.
‘This combination of FEI and Malvern technologies provides a powerful process and quality control tool for a growing number of nano-enabled products that are moving into production’.
The Malvern Business Development Director, Duncan Roberts, said: ‘The joint venture with FEI is an exciting development, as this is the first time that Malvern software has been applied to another company’s instrumentation.
Already proven with light microscopy, the execution of this solution on FEI systems provides SEM users with a powerful new tool’.
The bundled solution will be released later this year.
It will be actively promoted to current and potential customers of both FEI and Malvern Instruments.
The FEI tools for nanotechnology, featuring focused ion and electron-beam technologies, deliver 3D characterisation, analysis and modification capabilities with resolution down to the sub-Angstrom level and provide innovative solutions for customers working in nanobiology, nanoresearch and nanoelectronics.
With R+D centres in North America and Europe, and sales and service operations in more than 50 countries around the world, FEI is bringing the nanoscale within the grasp of leading researchers and manufacturers and helping to turn some of the biggest ideas of this century into reality.
Collaboration over inhaler testing
The announcement of a close working relationship with Copley Scientific, Europe’s largest manufacturer of inhaler test equipment, is positive news for developers of inhalation drug delivery systems.
Malvern Instruments has announced a close working relationship with Copley Scientific, Europe’s largest manufacturer of inhaler test equipment: this is positive news for developers of inhalation drug delivery systems. The new generation Malvern Spraytec system, a dedicated instrument for particle size analysis of sprays and aerosols, and its associated inhalation cell, have been developed to be fully compatible with a range of Copley Scientific instruments and accessories. This makes it easy for users to characterise inhaler sprays in complementary ways and facilitates the cross-comparison of data.
‘We believe that the Spraytec is a valuable tool for developers of inhalation systems,’ said Paul Kippax, product manager for the Spraytec: ‘Speed of measurement is a particularly attractive feature of laser diffraction - the Spraytec can make hundreds of measurements per day - and the data produced offers valuable insight into the processes of particle formation and dispersion during inhaler operation.
Our work with Copley Scientific is an important route for the continued development of our product for this rapidly growing market’.
Also welcoming the news, Mark Copley, Sales Manager, at Copley Scientific, said, ‘Whilst cascade impaction methods are essential in order to measure the aerodynamic particle size distribution of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), new technologies are valuable in providing additional data.
They can also help to accelerate the development of inhaler formulations and devices.
This collaboration enhances our ability to offer customers effective products that can be used from the research phase right through to routine QC.
Data from the Spraytec can therefore be used in conjunction with traditional cascade impactor testing to better understand inhaler output’.
Copley Scientific is a well-established supplier of equipment to the pharmaceutical and associated industries.
The company offers an extensive range of products for research, production, clinical trials and quality control applications.
Malvern Instruments is a leading supplier of systems for the characterisation of particle and material properties.
It offers fully automated solutions for the measurement of particle size distribution, particle shape, molecular weight, zeta potential and rheological properties.
Demand drives new image analysis standards issue
Sustained high demand has led Whitehouse Scientific to issue a new batch of the company’s NIST traceable glass microsphere standards for use with particle image analysis systems.
Sustained high demand has led Whitehouse Scientific to issue a new batch of the company’s NIST traceable glass microsphere standards for use with particle image analysis systems. Four standards cover the range 50 to 5000 microns and are available in weights from 50 to 500 grammes. They are calibrated by precision sieving methods and are traceable to international standards of length such as NIST and NPL.
The standards have been developed to provide excellent resolution at the extremes of the size distribution.
Whitehouse Scientific managing director Dr Graham Rideal commented: ‘Particle characterisation by image analysis is becoming increasingly popular.
It offers rapid analysis and provides unique information on particle shape.
Web seminar focuses on exciting new technology
A Malvern Instruments web seminar will discuss near infrared chemical imaging (NIR-CI), an exciting new technology for the characterisation of complex heterogeneous solid-state materials.
A Malvern Instruments web seminar on 12 September 2006 will bring to a global audience details of near infrared chemical imaging (NIR-CI), an exciting new technology for the characterisation of complex heterogeneous solid-state materials in the pharmaceutical, chemical, cosmetic, food and other industries. ‘NIR Chemical Imaging: Simultaneous chemical and physical measurements of solid-state materials’ is part of the Malvern established and active program of live seminars delivered using the web. It is the first that the company has delivered on chemical imaging and follows the Malvern acquisition of Spectral Dimensions Inc in July.
Applications from the pharmaceutical industry will illustrate the value of the technology for solving problems in formulation development, quality assurance and quality control as well as root cause analysis and in-process measurements in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Malvern web seminars are open to all and are delivered at no charge.
Court rules for Viscotek in DLS lawsuit
Viscotek has been awarded summary judgment in a trade secret and trademark lawsuit (filed by Wyatt Technology) relating to dynamic light scattering (DLS) technology used in protein characterisation.
Viscotek Corporation was awarded summary judgment in a trade secret and trademark lawsuit filed by Wyatt Technology Corporation of Santa Barbara in the District Court for the Central District of California, USA. The judgment includes an award of attorneys’ fees and an order that Wyatt pay Viscotek US$100,000 in punitive damages. The dispute involved dynamic light scattering (DLS) technology, and arose from a purchase by Wyatt of certain assets of Proterion Corporation in late 2004.
The Court ruled against Wyatt on all of its claims, including trade secret misappropriation and false advertising.
The Court also ruled in favour of Viscotek on its counterclaims for trade secret misappropriation and unauthorised email interception under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the federal Electronic Communications Act, and the California Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.
Founded in 1985, Viscotek is the global leader in Gel Permeation chromatography (GPC) / Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) and Light Scattering, supplying detectors, software and systems for the characterisation of proteins, natural and synthetic polymers and copolymers, nanoparticles materials, protein conjugates and other biomolecules.
The innovative Viscotek products and technologies are backed in Europe, North America and Asia by superior technical service and analytical support.
Characterisation of advanced polymeric materials
Viscotek, the leader in multiple detector characterisation of polymers, proteins and nanoparticulate materials, will supply equipment to the prestigious Centre for Materials Discovery in Liverpool
Viscotek, the leader in multiple detector characterisation of polymers, proteins and nanoparticulate materials, has received a large multi-instrument order from the prestigious, new Centre for Materials Discovery (CMD) at the University of Liverpool (UK). The Centre for Materials Discovery (CMD) was formed to facilitate and support the adoption of High Throughput (HT) Technologies and Methodologies within both academic organisations and businesses on Merseyside and the surrounding Northwest region. Working with the considerable innovation potential within the regional academic community, and businesses within the North West, the CMD team will identify, nurture and perform through to completion identifiable R+D projects that will help select novel advanced polymeric materials for commercial exploitation, helping to create economic wealth and employment within the region.
Widely acknowledged as ‘the technique’ for characterising the structure, size and molecular weight of polymeric materials, advanced GPC and light scattering detectors were key analytical tools for the Centre of Materials Discovery to have in its laboratories.
Having exhaustively evaluated all the leading instruments in the GPC Light Scattering and Dynamic Light Scattering fields the Centre for Materials Discovery elected to purchase two complete Triple Detector Array (TDA) GPC systems, further GPC equipment and a Model 802 DLS instrument from Viscotek.
Simon Longden (CMD Business Development Manager) commented ‘To offer cutting-edge polymer characterisation services to our customers necessitated that we chose the best performing GPC systems currently available.
The Viscotek TDA systems came out top - both in terms of hardware performance (sensitivity, accuracy, ease-of-use) and also software performance.
We were particularly impressed by the high-throughput use of the instrumentation and liked the security of investing in proven technology, widely used in academia and industry’.
Paul Clarke (Managing Director, Viscotek Europe) stated ‘We are delighted to have been selected by the Centre for Materials Discovery after such a competitive evaluation.
In a single experiment, our unique triple detector technologies allow you to obtain absolute molecular weight, molecular size, intrinsic viscosity, conformation, structure, branching, aggregation and copolymer composition.
Our continuing investment in support personnel and in developing new innovative GPC/SEC instrumentation, detectors and software has allowed us to achieve strong year-on-year growth in Europe’.
Founded in 1985, Viscotek is the global leader in Gel Permeation chromatography ( GPC ) / Size Exclusion Chromatography ( SEC ) detectors, software and systems for the characterisation of natural and synthetic polymers, copolymers, proteins, protein conjugates, aggregates and excipients.
Viscotek’s innovative products and technologies are backed in Europe, North America and Asia by superior technical service and analytical support.
A new option for in-line particle size analysis
The new Parsum IPP70 in-line particle size analyser is a new addition to the Parsum range available from Malvern Instruments, to measure particulate materials in the size range 50 to 6000 microns.
The new Parsum IPP70 in-line particle size analyser is a new addition to the Parsum range available from Malvern Instruments. The new probe extends the variety of applications for which Parsum systems provide ideal solutions for particle measurement. Based on the theory of spatial filter velocimetry, the IPP70 measures particulate materials in the size range 50 to 6000 microns.
Robust and easy to use, it is suitable for the continuous monitoring of a range of unit operations, including wet and dry granulation, coating and spray drying.
The IPP70 probe is inserted directly into a process line or vessel.
It has been used successfully for monitoring both batch and continuous processes, for materials as diverse as polyethylene and washing powder.
The instrument continuously tracks Dv(10), Dv(50) and Dv(90) making it ideal for end-point detection, process control and process optimisation applications.
The fibre optics at the heart of the IPP70 deliver consistent measurement at high particle loadings.
Sensitivity to fluctuations in loading is low, making this an extremely robust solution.
Highly accurate data is produced at a measurement rate up to 15000 particles per second.
A rugged outer design protects the IPP70 from the process environment, for proven high reliability.
New software delivers user interfaces that are designed specifically to meet the needs of both the process and the research environment.
A series of LEDs allows the detection of contamination or material build up on the probe without the need to remove the instrument from the process, so forewarning the operator of any developing problems.
Zetasizer Nano in use at BegbrokeNano in Oxford
A Zetasizer Nano particle characterisation system is one of several analytical solutions available to researchers at BegbrokeNano, a new UK centre offering facilities for materials characterisation.
A Malvern Zetasizer Nano particle characterisation system is one of a number of analytical solutions available to researchers at BegbrokeNano, a new UK centre offering facilities for materials characterisation to companies involved in the exploitation of Micro Nano Technology. Located at the Oxford University Begbroke Science Park, BegbrokeNano was opened officially on 26 July 2006. In developing this new facility, the Department of Materials at the University of Oxford has joined forces with leading instrument manufacturers to provide a dedicated solution for the analysis of micro and nano scaled materials and structures.
BegbrokeNano is supported by the DTI under the UK Micro and Nano Technology Network (MNT), offering the MNT community access to unrivalled facilities for materials characterisation.
Dr Alison Crossley, Manager of BegbrokeNano said: ‘This new centre will offer state of the art facilities to companies developing nanotechnology, and build on our aim to further the links between science and industry’.
The Malvern Zetasizer Nano is used widely for the comprehensive characterisation of nano sized particles.
Universal powder tester at BPC 2006
Freeman Technology will be demonstrating the FT4 Powder Rheometer at the British Pharmaceutical Conference and Exhibition 2006, which takes place from 4-6 September in Manchester
Freeman Technology will be demonstrating the FT4 Powder Rheometer at the British Pharmaceutical Conference and Exhibition 2006, which takes place from 4-6 September at the Manchester International Convention Centre. The exhibition takes place in the adjacent G-MEX hall. The FT4 characterises powders using dynamic methodology, complemented by shear testing and the measurement of bulk properties.
A state-of-the-art system, this universal powder tester builds the most complete picture of powder behaviour.
Comprehensive testing regimes can be undertaken easily and offer insight into powders and their suitability for specific processes.
Pharmaceutical industry applications range from early stage formulation through to optimising tabletting processes and troubleshooting production problems.