The new analyser is the BQA 1000 (biodiesel quality analyser), which has been designed to provide a complete at-line package for biodiesel analysis that can provide accurate results within 60 seconds.
Although biodiesel production is a very hot topic at the moment the simplicity and robustness of the technology underpinning the BQA 1000 means it is also used in other industrial lab-based applications, including edible oil production across the board including quality control in palm oil, corn oil and olive oil for food and cosmetic use.
The BQA 1000 applications include incoming oil inspection, methanol quality, and final B100 product quality inspection. The instrument can be integrated into the production process to help maintain fuel quality. The analyser probe is robust and can be wiped clean and dried after each analysis ready for the next; the analyser is precalibrated and can use simple pass/fail indicators if required (yellow, red and green indicators warn about samples varying from ASTM specifications).
As well as the BQA 1000 Aspectrics have also released their multi-component 2750 biofuels analyser which is based on the 2750 EP-NIR analyser that gained an honourable mention in the editor's awards at Pittcon 2007.
The updated 2750 analyser can provide real time analysis of incoming feedstock oil, mono, di and triglycerides in the process, possible contaminates in B100, water levels in ethanol, and blend rationing for both biodiesel and ethanol/gasoline blends.
The analyser provides spectral information in the 2000-2600 nm range of the spectrum but reduces the information to simple in or out of specification results. The 2750 biofuels analyser has now been US military certified (extreme vibration testing in frequencies from 0.5-30 Hz) for use in military grade fuels analysis (announced at Pittcon 2008).
Jim Yano, the vice president of marketing for Aspectrics commented at Pittcon 2008: "The system combines an easy to use graphical interface and convenience with little requirement for training; the results provided are accurate and in less than 60 seconds and in an industrial environment can save a lot of time... the BQA 1000 is also a flexible platform designed for the harsh environment of the biodiesel production plant, which can make a range of measurements and is also easy to clean, service and operate."
He continued: "We can also offer an in-line process monitoring solution, which uses the same technology and can be completely integrated with plant control systems. Aspectrics has its own team of applications chemists and engineers who can work with interested companies to develop custom calibrations for specific products."