Modified system for no blank values in automated PFAS clean-up

LCTech GmbH, a company at the forefront of automated sample clean-up, has enabled reliable and unattended clean-up of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances without blank values in the subsequent analysis due to a fluorine-free system material.

A new EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) risk assessment asks for higher regulation of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances due to newly validated high toxicity. This subsequently increases the need to concentrate the samples to be analysed.

LCTech has now modified the Freestyle automated sample clean-up system and almost completely freed it from fluorine-containing plastics such as PTFE. This allows clean-up and concentration without blank values derived from the system and avoids false results.

LCTech’s combination of Freestyle SPE-XANA-PFAS enables the automated clean-up of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances from up to 24 water samples of 0.25 to 10 litres quickly and unattended, even at weekends and overnight.

The parallel processing steps "conditioning", "loading", and "washing" as well as the simultaneous processing of 3 samples each, increase the sample throughput and thus increases the productivity of laboratories.

In addition to large-volume water samples, the PFAS-free system is also available for samples from solid phase extraction with smaller volumes (without XANA module): Freestyle SPE-PFAS. This configuration is suitable for all solid phase extraction methods, especially for the clean-up of food and soil samples.

By applying controlled pressure of up to 4 bar, even viscous samples or samples that do contain non-solid suspended matter be forced through the SPE column can in many cases.

Both system configurations are suitable for small laboratories with low sample volumes as well as for high-throughput laboratories.

All Freestyle modules are pre-configured and are operated via the Freesstyle software. The user selects the required application with just a few mouse clicks. Cross-contamination is reliably avoided at all times.

Visitors to analytica 2020 can see all the advantages and the sophisticated technology of Freestyle for themselves in hall A2 booth 400.

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