Environmental Awareness - As the standards of living around the world increases, so does the awareness of various forms of environmental pollution. Manufacturing companies, local authorities and engineering firms are increasingly required to investigate in advance whether products, building plots or contaminated sites pose a danger for humans and the environment. Detecting contaminants requires extremely accurate methods of analysis, which are usually carried out by specialist service providers.

There are a numerous processes for analyzing solid materials and liquids. High-purity industrial gases play a crucial role in these processes as carrier gases, combustibles or backflushing gases. For several years now, Eurofins, one of the world's leading companies in the field of analytics, has been relying on supply solutions from industrial gas manufacturer Air Products. Prior to the company's move into its new premises in 2010, it carried out a detailed investigation of all its processes.

After all, efficient processes and seamless continual operation of laboratory systems are now crucial in the face of stiff competition in the analytics sector. Thanks to its optimized operational processes and the Cryo Ease supply system from Air Products, the new environmental laboratory in Wesseling, near Cologne in Germany, is one of the most modern in the world.

Environmental Analytics as A Growth Market

Eurofins Scientific is one of the world's leading providers of testing procedures and services covering the fields of pharmaceuticals, food, consumer goods and the environment. Founded in 1987, the company now generates revenues of around $800 million and employs some 8,000 people at 150 locations in 30 countries around the world. It uses approximately 40,000 different test procedures.

Its German subsidiary, Eurofins Umwelt, is a group of top European specialist environmental laboratories. The company specializes in analyzing water, ground and air samples, as well as waste and contaminated sites. It also conducts product analysis and numerous forms of specialist analysis, including combustibles. Every year, Eurofins Umwelt investigates over 400,000 samples from these fields.

The market volume for environmental analytics alone is estimated at around €4 billion. Growth is being driven by rising security requirements from the point of view of consumers and manufacturers, as well as legal regulations and the increased need for companies and organizations to outsource analytics.

Protecting Humans and The Environment From Contaminants and Pollutants

To achieve this, engineering firms and local authorities, as well as industrial companies, focus on analyzing ground and water samples. This is to guarantee that toxic substances do not contaminate the environment, in particular water supplies. Whereas previously, large industrial areas were analyzed and decontaminated, the objective nowadays is not just decontamination but also preventative observation. By regularly conducting ground water sampling and analysis, it is possible to observe nature's ability to regenerate areas itself. In doing so, any environmentally critical pollutants can be identified, quantified and quantitatively analyzed when they start to appear. Therefore, costly purification measures are only carried out when there is an actual need to act.

If a building is to be demolished, engineering firms often carry out analysis in advance of the demolition to determine whether the rubble will be contaminated or not. This means the waste can be disposed of appropriately and selectively. Similarly, investors want to know whether a potentially lucrative investment might turn out to be a waste management fiasco due to ground contamination.

These circumstances all contribute to the necessity for comprehensive sample analysis, as-depending on the different material properties-even traces of some contaminants can cause considerable damage.

Perfect Processes Produce Precise Analysis

The processes in the new Eurofins laboratory are perfectly harmonized. The company is able to cope with the high volume of samples at its Wesseling site while still managing to satisfy quality standards thanks to short routes and an optimized work allocation system.
"Reorganizing from three floors to one has already produced significant efficiency savings," said Dr. Hartmut Jäger, technical director at the Wesseling plant.

Previously, individual employees performed several stages on one sample. Now, considerable benefits have been gained from dividing tasks into sensible substeps. And quality has improved as each employee is able to concentrate on the relevant work processes. Moreover, work process can be accomplished much more quickly and effectively. Around 120 staff at the Wesseling site ensure that operations run smoothly and the best possible test results are achieved.

When the cooled samples arrive, they are labeled with a barcode and details are entered into the LIMS computer system (laboratory information and management system). The saved data determines the precise stages that a sample will then go through. Solid materials are first mechanically prepared and then if necessary, just like liquid samples, extracted using solvents or mixed with water in order to determine any possible ground water contamination. This preparation stage allows subsequent analysis to be carried out using various test procedures to identify and quantify every chemical compound. As a general rule, clients tend to request the analysis of approximately 30-40 compounds.

High Purity Gases and High-Tech Apparatus

When investigating samples, spectrometric and gas-chromatographic procedures are often used. As part of inductive coupled plasma analysis (ICP), the sample is fed into ultra-hot argon plasma. The light emitted from the atoms (ICP-OES) is then analyzed to determine the composition of the sample. Newer routine methods now enable ICP to be coupled with mass-spectrometers as trace analyses detectors that have extremely sensitive levels of detection compared to traditional, optical ICP devices. ICP-MS and ICP-OES are primarily used to analyze elements in all sample matrixes. The three ICPs operated at Eurofins alone consume around 50 liters of argon per minute.

Another method used to analyze organic compounds is gas chromatography (GC). The sample is sprayed into the gas chromatograph and is transported by a carrier gas-usually high-purity helium-through the analysis machine. The GC/MS process uses a mass-spectrometer linked to a gas chromatograph. This allows selective detection with detection levels lower than can be achieved using traditional GC.

The majority of test results are automatically entered into the LIMS after being validated by qualified employees; the results are then assigned to the relevant samples. The outcome is an extensive test report which is validated once more by an experienced test leader before being sent to the client to provide them with detailed information regarding the chemical composition of the samples submitted. The samples are then transferred to an archive, if necessary, in order to be available for further investigations.

To ensure the laboratory facility is used most effectively, automated processes guarantee 24 hour operation. These processes are controlled by the LIMS computer system.
"It is expensive to stop operations," Jäger said. "Our most important method of leveraging a commercial advantage is to increase and improve productivity. We therefore place considerable emphasis on processes and cost factors."

Gas Supplies at the Heart Of Analytics Operations

In order to keep on schedule without affecting quality, especially with large numbers of samples, operational processes and infrastructure must be perfectly aligned with one another. This is due to ever-increasing demands for accurate analysis, quicker processing times and higher levels of productivity. A reliable high-purity gas supply is crucial for ensuring quality and the optimum cost structure. Large volumes of argon and helium are required, so are oxygen and hydrogen as combustible gases. Nitrogen is also used as a backflushing agent. Without these consumables, important areas in the production facility come to a halt.

The laboratory is supplied with the gases it requires via a pipeline to the point of use from a central gas storage facility.
In addition to using helium cylinder bundles, Eurofins relies on Cryo Ease service tanks from Air Products for the large volumes of argon it requires. The Cryo Ease system uses tanks with capacities of between 200 and 2,000 l. This supply principle removes the need for time-consuming gas cylinder exchanges as well as shipping and handling. It also reduces the administration associated with ordering. Cryo Ease tanks are refilled automatically in regular intervals. The fleet consists of small tankers that can easily access even hard-to-reach locations. Filling is automatic and does not require a special order. In this case, the gas consumed the most is liquid argon (500 l per week). Thus, a 1,000 l Cryo Ease service tank easily covers the total supply requirements.

"The Cryo Ease supply service represents a profitable and easy alternative for large consumers. It closes the gap between delivery of liquid gases for large tanks and supplies in gas cylinders. This supply system makes sense for a plant consuming more than 10 large cylinders per month. That is why, in the face of stiff competition in the analytics market, the delivery service makes an important contribution to ensuring the competitiveness of companies such as Eurofins," Terry O'Reilly, Business Manager for Cryo Ease Europe at Air Products said. At the same time, storage space requirements are also reduced because a Cryo Ease service tank can replace up to 125 gas cylinders. It only takes a few hours to install and very little preparatory work is required.

Well-Placed For The Analytics Market

Thanks to the new laboratory, its revised processes and the well thought-out infrastructure, Eurofins is now well-positioned to tackle future challenges in the analysis market.

"We do not expect any dramatic changes in the quantities and type of analysis we carry out; therefore, our laboratories can integrate newly arising trends, such as perfluorinated tenside (PFT) analysis, into existing processes. There should also be no shortages of our most important raw materials, industrial gases, even if volumes change," Dr. Jäger said.