(Mettler-Toledo: Columbus, OH) -- Mettler-Toledo Inc. has introduced Quantos Q2 and QL2 powder- and liquid-dispensing auxiliary modules that can be added to any 0.1 mg or 0.01 mg XP Excellence Series analytical balance. The addition of automated powder- and liquid-dispensing functionality to the balance increases laboratory efficiency, improves results, and eliminates errors in weighing, sample preparation, dilution, and transcription.
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These new add-on modules deliver functionality for powder dispensing—and all-new liquid dispensing—and provide unprecedented improvement in weighing results. The modules are compatible with all XP Excellence Series analytical balance models having 0.1 mg and 0.01 mg readability. Either one or both modules can be added to the balance to dispense powders and liquids to a required target weight automatically with just a touch; this keeps an original investment in an XP balance up to date with the latest in Mettler-Toledo weighing technology. Users can now enter the world of Quantos automated dispensing even more quickly and cost-effectively.
Q2 powder dispensing module
By adding the new Quantos Q2 powder-dispensing module to any XP balance with 0.1 mg or 0.01 mg readability, users can typically save up to 40 percent of their powder compounds. For example, by adding automated dispensing to an XP205 analytical balance, the typical achievable USP minimum weight of the balance is lowered from 24 mg to 15 mg. It is possible to save precious compounds by using less material. This is especially important for expensive or toxic compounds and to support green initiatives, while still maintaining compliance.
The Q2 powder-dispensing module replaces the tedious activity of weighing out powders by hand with a spatula. By also serving as a storage unit, the dispensing head can improve containment of dangerous compounds during weighing, and provides new ways for laboratories to maximize compound yields and improve workflow.
QL2 liquid dispensing module
The dispensing functionality provided by the Quantos QL2 module for liquids and solvents is a game-changing approach to preparing reference standards and sample solutions in analytical laboratories.
Until now the amount of solution made up was determined by glassware tolerance and measurement subjectivity, not by the amount needed. Typically up to 99 percent of prepared solutions are disposed without being used. With the Quantos QL2 module and an XP balance (fitted with the Q2 powder dispensing module for even greater performance), users can now prepare single-use solutions “on demand” directly into a target vessel with unprecedented speed and accuracy. This eliminates the associated expense of glassware management and wasted stock solutions. The amount of reference or sample substance is weighed (by the user or automatically dispensed if the balance is also fitted with the Q2 powder-dispensing module), and the solvent is then automatically added in the exact amount—by weight not volume—to achieve the target concentration.
By adding the solvent gravimetrically, volumetric error is eliminated because the amounts of compound and solvent are not determined by the glassware tolerances but by the minimum weight specification of the balance. Any over- or underweight of the solid is automatically compensated for by adjusting the solvent addition to reach the exact concentration. Scale-down is achieved because just the exact amount needed at the exact concentration can be prepared.
The user is guided through the steps on a touch screen, and all amounts and results are calculated automatically by the balance. A storage bottle fitted with liquid dispensing head can be dedicated to each commonly needed solvent for easy switching, thus avoiding rinsing and line-flushing.
Data are tracked via RFID chip, avoiding potential transcription errors. Out-of-specification (OOS) errors that can arise from weighing and dilution processes can cost the lab significant expenditure in money and resources to trace and resolve. Automating the solution preparation process using gravimetric dispensing technology significantly reduces the potential sources of error and thereby reduces the risk of OOS results.
Quantos Q2 and QL2 kits are available to anyone with a previously installed or newly purchased XP Series analytical balance having 0.1 mg or 0.01 mg readability. Complete retrofit services, including equipment qualification are also available from Mettler-Toledo.
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