Ethylene & GC-MS analysis as new laboratory service at EMS 19 June 2017

For many growers and fruit storage companies it is important that ethylene, ethanol or other agriculture related gasses are determined in their greenhouses, storages and loading docks. EMS now offer this as a service with high-end analysis in their laboratory.

Since early 2014, EMS has adopted a unique gas-concentration analysis system. At a very detailed level and low measurement range, a wide range of hydrocarbons present in gas can be determined. This analysis consists of both a qualitative analysis (gas type) and a quantitative analysis (amount of gas). This system is now also available to perform measurements for third parties. Especially for agricultural and food industry relationships, it is interesting to sample a variety of crops, fresh food, fruit preservation, fruit storage, greenhouses and other crops such as flowers.

Beside the for EMS well known ethylene, we now also can determine many other volatiles, where some of them are: Ethanol, formaldehyde, PVC, other gasses from plastics and many other carbon / organic hydrogen compouds.

With this machine, for example, ethylene can be sampled accurately on-site and determined in the lab. This can be accurate down to 1 ppb. In addition, the analysis equipment is able to recognize other gases and able to selectively display its concentration.

The procedure of measuring and analysis is as follows: In a room or process, by means of sample tubes or special sample bags, gas samples are taken by pumping the gas, using a pump in the tube or the samplebag. The sample is then transport to the laboratory of EMS to analyse the sample as quickly as possible (within 24 hours). The sample is connected to the analyser and the thermal desorber collects the gas from the sample tube. The collected gas is then passed to the gas chromatograph. This GC separates the molecules from each other. The smallest molecules with the lowest boiling point are the first that come out of the column and are conducted to the mass spectrometer. This mass spectrometer determines the mass of the molecules and ensures that the number of molecules is determined. The intermediate result of the time domain when the molecules are measured in the MS and the ratio between the ion groups vs. Mass is compared in a database. The result is that after the equation it is known which gases are all present in the gas mixture.

The special feature of this technique is that unknown and unexpectedly present gases can be detected. It enables the user to determine which unknown gases are present. In addition, the system has the advantage that it can still measure very low gas concentrations. We then talk about the ppb to ppt range.

The analysis are favorably priced against the amount of information from the analysis and the accuracy of the results. Contact EMS for the possibilities.