Duralyzer Desktop  Liquor Analyzer

Manufacturer: R.E. Hodges; Auburn, Alabama

Duralyzer-NIR versus Titration:

The standard ABC titration test requires multiple chemicals and lab equipment to implement. Titration chemicals such as certified HCL solution, formaldehyde, barium chloride and various color indicators are inconvenient and costly to maintain in the process testing lab. If a pH probe is used to monitor the titration then pH standards must also be kept on hand to calibrate the probe.

In addition to the chemical requirements, precision volume measurement equipment for the sample and titration acid must be maintained in good working order and periodically calibrated. Bench top titrators have been implemented to automate the actual titration test. However, most of the same issues associated with the manual test are also present with the bench top titrators.

At a minimum, titration acid and pH standards as well as precision volume measuring equipment are still needed for the bench top titrator. Most bench top titrators are based on the SCAN titration method. This method differs from the TAPPI standard ABC titration test in that formaldehyde and barium chloride are not used. Instead, a pH curve is generated as a function of the added titration acid. Inflection points on the titration curve are used to estimate the EA, AA and TTA values of the liquor sample.

This technique can suffer from difficult to locate inflection points, especially for the AA point. The inflection point locations can vary with varying deadload concentrations, leading to erroneous concentration estimates. This effect is especially pronounced on the AA inflection point.

The DURALYZER-NIR bench top analyzer completely eliminates all of the negative issues associated with manual and automated titrations by eliminating the chemical requirements, accurate volume measurement requirements and the effects of deadload variations.