Environmental And Research

Water quality  is  monitored at municipal, regional and national level. UV and Visible spectrophotometry offers a low cost versatile method of water analysis that is within the budget of most municipalities. The Specac Oil in Water Kit is a low cost method of checking for oil pollution, and the Hellma range of Optical Immersion probes offer on stream analysis of a wide range of materials. Analysis of chemical waste from manufacturing is best carried out using the Pike MIRacle ATR with diamond crystal plate, which can handle the wide PH range of this type of sample

Atomic absorption and ICP offer quicker methods of trace metal analysis, and are commonly used by regional and national water authorities.  The Pike GC/FTIR accessory can be used for the measurement of pesticide, insecticide and fungicide levels, and the Bio-Rad Sadtler databases enable quick identification of other organic pollutants.

Air pollution measurements normal use long pathlength Infra Red Gas Cells to detect gaseous pollutants such as automotive exhaust gases and hydrocarbon pollutants produced by the petrochemical Industry, while particulate contaminants are usually analysed by first filtering out the contaminants from the air supply, then analysing the filtrate by a trace detection technique like the Pike Micro Diamond Cell.

Environmental

UV visible spectrophotometry is  widely used in the bio medical field, and Pecsa Analytical offers a wide range of micro and ultra micro cells for this type of application where sample volume is a key constraint. The Tray cell is designed to ensure accurate reproducible analysis of DNA/RNA and proteins using very small sample volumes. The quartz microplates we offer have distinct advantages over the more common plastic varieties, such resistance to high temperatures and aggressive solvents, making them quick and easy to sterilise, and a wide transmission range over the whole UV range.


Disposable UV-Transparent spectrophotometer cuvettes
 are an alternative to fragile, expensive quartz cuvettes for DNA, RNA, and protein analyses between 220-900nm. They eliminate the need for maintenance, cleaning, and most importantly the contamination risk associated with quartz cuvettes.

Fluorescence is a well-established technique for the characterisation of biological materials based on localisation of administered fluorophores in cell and tissue structures, and this is increasingly replacing radioactive labelling as a method of studying biological processes. Pecsa Analytical offers comprehensive range of Fluorescence cells for most applications, and special cells can be made to order.

The use of graphite tube Atomic absorption for measuring trace metal concentration in blood is well documented, and more controversial application include the use of hair samples to diagnose dietary deficiencies. This technique is a reliable indicator of long term exposure to heavy metals such as lead, in the work environment.

FTIR and IR applications to the Life science field are less common, as most biological studies are done in the presence of water, which has a strong IR absorption, which often masks the peaks of interest.

Recent advances in ATR & HATR sampling have now made it possible to use this technique for the study of organic materials suspended in water.