A guide to a total workflow approach for environmental sample analysis

Over the past years, environmental labs have seen a shift from AA to ICP-OES and ICP-MS to improve productivity and data quality, and to comply with the ever-changing regulations. At the same time, Sample preparation of environmental samples has seen significant changes moving from comparatively basic open-vessel digestion to sophisticated closed vessel digestion augmented by technologies such as contactless temperature control and the latest vessel designs enabling higher temperatures and pressures.

These technological advances have facilitated faster digestion times, as well as significant improvements in quality, blanks, and safety. The digestion phase has always gained the most attention in the preparation process, but there are other steps of equal importance in the total workflow that need to be considered, including some which may be surprising in scope and scale.

A Milestone e-book download is available from their UK representative Analytix that puts forward a ‘total workflow’ approach to sample preparation and highlights how to improve critical aspects of elemental analysis by optimising the acid supply and quality, addition of reagents, vessel handling, microwave digestion, sample filtering, and cleaning of lab ware.

The e-book also includes practical advice for avoiding tiresome and costly workflow disruptions, including incomplete digestions or sample contamination, that may fetter a laboratory’s efforts from meeting overall performance, costs, and safety targets. In addition, readers will also find links so they can request videos or view technology reports, multiple webinars, and two case studies in which utilising the ‘total workflow’ approach has led to reduced costs and time saving benefits as well as less errors and contamination incidents.

Analytix provide Milestone’s solutions for every step of the sample preparation ‘total workflow’ approach that will result in a significant impact on a lab’s elemental analysis of environmental samples. Milestone’s solutions help to improve sample processing times, quality of results due to reduced detection limits, and enhanced efficiency thanks to optimising operators’ times and cost per sample.