New And Notable At Pittcon: Pittcon Potpourri

Thermo Fisher Displays Multiple New Instruments

Thermo Fisher Scientific traditionally uses Pittcon to unveil a slate of new products. One of the items featured this year was the iCAP 6200 inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer. This instrument offers an alternative to flame atomic absorption for trace elemental analysis in environmental testing labs that process hundreds of samples per day. The iCAP 6200 incorporates a wider wavelength range (175–847 nm) than prior models to measure more analytes during multielement analyses, now including wavelengths for sulfur detection.

Also among Thermo Fisher’s offerings was the Niton FXL, the latest addition to the company’s line of portable X-ray fluorescence analyzers. Designed for nondestructive elemental analysis of up to 40 elements, it has a larger X-ray tube than handheld models to provide lab-quality performance in a portable instrument. The field model (above) is geared toward mining and exploration assays, whereas the consumer goods model is aimed at screening toys, jewelry, and electronics for lead, cadmium, and other toxic metals at all stages of the supply chain.

Thermo Fisher also displayed the latest versions of some classic lab instruments for molecular spectroscopy. The Nicolet iS5 FT-IR spectrometer is a compact, low-cost instrument for product assurance testing, basic troubleshooting, and chemistry teaching. The Spectronic 200 visible spectrophotometer is a rugged, simple-to-use instrument for teaching and routine applications such as water testing and quality control. It couples the simplicity and reliability of the classic Spectronic 20 and Genesys 20 instruments with the latest electronics technologies.

Bruker Showcases Product Line

Bruker is known for its broad instrumentation portfolio and for announcing an array of new products at Pittcon. This year, the company unveiled the newest mass spectrometer in its maXis product line, the maXis 4G, an ultra-high-resolution quadrupole time-of-flight instrument. The maXis 4G has a resolving power of 60,000 and mass accuracy of 600 ppb while acquiring data at 30 spectra per second, which is optimal for LC/MS applications. The spectrometer is suited for simultaneous discovery, identification, and quantitation of low-abundance small molecules and intact proteins with a mass-to-charge ratio up to 20 kilodaltons.

Also new from Bruker is the aurora M90 inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. This instrument features the only fully digitized ICP/MS detector for fast multielement analysis from trace levels to large amounts in a single measurement for environmental and industrial monitoring processes. The aurora M90 includes an updated collision reaction interface for interference elimination and the new Nitrox 500 accessory to lower limits of detection on key elements such as arsenic and selenium.

Bruker additionally launched the S8 Dragon X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. With its new Multielement Channel feature, the S8 Dragon is the first instrument fully capable of simultaneously analyzing all the elements from carbon to uranium in one run, which takes less than 40 seconds. It’s designed for high-speed elemental analysis for process control in steel and metal production and processing.