All Features articles
-
FeaturesModified Atmosphere Packaging
We are in the business of manufacturing artificial atmospheres. For want of a simpler explanation, that’s what we do. We start off with a perfectly fine atmosphere that surrounds our Earth and, through our special magic, we separate it into its individual components.
-
Features
FTIR gas analysis
FTIR (Fourier Transform InfraRed) spectroscopy is the most popular analytical technology for industrial applications requiring the continuous measurement of multiple parameters simultaneously. Typically, FTIR analysers are employed for process control and emissions monitoring, however, due to the robustness and flexibility of this technique it can also be applied in a ...
-
Features
Specialty Gases – Going from Strength to Strength
The specialty gases business of 2015 continues to go from strength to strength, both in its make-up and its growth potential. Several pillars of growth increasingly drive specialty gas demand, while innovations in production processes, engineering, equipment, and distribution have transformed the specialty gas business throughout the decades.
-
Features
NMR Spectroscopy Breakthrough
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) researchers at the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) have demonstrated the most precise method yet to measure the structural configuration of monoclonal antibodies, an important factor in determining the safety and efficacy of these biomolecules as medicines.
-
Features
Inside the Lab
Starting from the top down, NorLab, a wholly owned division of Norco, Inc., was created with the specific goal of producing quality products. In the company’s organizational chart in NorLab’s ISO 9002 submittal, the principal and chief operating governance of the company is obvious; it is the customer. Our marching ...
-
Features
Sustainability Meets Innovation: SEMICON West Show Review
In the early days of July, Specialty Gas Report attended the 44th annual SEMICON West show, the preeminent event in the US semiconductor and micro-electronics industry. SEMICON West 2014 was held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, from July 8–14, and the event was spectacular.
-
Features
Permeation Tubes for Difficult Mixtures
As analytical requirements seek quantification at ever lower concentration levels the gas mixtures required for verification and calibration become more difficult to obtain or prepare, and often impossible to store. Concentrations may be extremely low (parts per billion, or even parts per trillion.) Analytes are often highly polar, or highly ...
-
Features
It’s All in the Triangle…
Achieving accurate and repeatable low-level moisture analysis in the specialty gas industry while minimizing analysis instrument maintenance is a challenge many laboratory analysis equipment suppliers have tried to meet over the years with a number of different technologies. It is now clear that Tunable Laser Diode Spectroscopy (TLDS) has emerged ...
-
Features
Spotlight on Helium: A Growing International Shortage
Helium is one of the most abundant elements in the universe, second only to hydrogen, and is found in every star including our sun. In fact, helium was first discovered in the sun during a solar eclipse in 1868 and gets its name from the Greek sun god, Helios. Despite ...
-
Features
The Importance of Properly Sealing Threaded Connections for Hazardous Gases and Liquids
When storing and transporting cylinders, especially those containing flammable or corrosive liquids and gases, leak-tight seals are of critical importance. As any distributor of packaged gases can attest, a number of problems arise when a cylinder is found to leak. It can be dangerous to both the customer and those ...
-
Features
The Perfect Order
The Intersection of Customer Desire and the Almost Possible Rising Customer Expectations Customers have become accustomed to one-click, nearly instant gratification. It is tempting to believe that the specialty gas industry is somehow immune to this cultural “Amazon effect.” Because our products have technical applications, long lead-times, rigid quality criteria, ...
-
Features
Handling and Storage of High Pressure Gas Cylinders
High pressure gas and portable cryogenic liquid cylinders present hazards in numerous areas. For many gases there are hazards associated with chemical composition of the gases in the cylinder. Then there are the physical hazards associated with high pressure and liquid cylinders due to their size and weight. It is ...
-
Features
Getting It Right: Factors that Determine the Quality and Accuracy of Calibration Gas Mixtures
My team and I travel around the country studying the needs of various companies that use specialty gas calibration mixtures. As we work with these companies to tailor solutions to eliminate their specific ongoing problems, we find that we encounter many of the same issues at each facility, despite the ...
-
Features
In the spotlight – What is octafluoropropane?
When Electronic Fluorocarbons LLC (EF LLC) announced in October that it had secured a global exclusive supply agreement with 3M for the supply of octafluoropropane (C3F8), the news will likely have been met with more than a few quizzical glances.
-
Features
Cryogenic innovations to better serve customers in healthcare and life science
The specialty gases opportunity
-
Features
Today’s electronics gases
Specialty gases are driving growth in the electronic gases market, Helen Carmichael reports. But suppliers need to remain ahead of the curve to compete in this fast-moving, high-tech industry.
-
Features
Rare gases – A fast growing global commodity
Let’s start with a brief background of the rare gases and the production of them for those of you who are not familiar with the basics. Williams Ramsay and Travers Morris discovered the three rare gases - krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe) and neon (Ne) - in 1889 when they found ...
-
Features
An ongoing onsite supply challenge – Electronics gas management
The reliable supply of high purity gases has been crucial in the electronics industry since the advent of the semiconductor. A broad portfolio of industrial and specialty gases, electronics gases, process gases and mixtures, and precursors, collectively termed electronic materials (EM), are required for the many stages of semiconductor and ...
-
-
Features
Trends in gas analysis instrumentation – A perspective from GOW-MAC
In the last 10 years, methods of acquiring chemical data from systems and environments have changed dramatically. One trend in today’s instrument solutions is an increase in the sophistication of the MMI (man machine interface), data acquisition systems, and in the communication and transmission of the data that is gathered. ...
