Specifications

The Right Equipment for Any Application
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Foods, chemical/pharmaceutical
products, building materials or
animal feed – you name it, the
moisture or water content has a
decisive impact on price, process-
ability and quality, ranging from
raw materials to final products.
Determining this moisture con-
tent is one of the most common
analyses in product development
and in the manufacturing process.
Here, the most diverse require-
ments on speed, resolution of the
values measured or on the oper-
ating design of the moisture ana-
lyzers must also be considered in
all cases. As a leading provider of
moisture analysis equipment,
Sartorius is thoroughly familiar
with the needs of its customers
and thus offers a wide range of
equipment that is continuously
being enhanced.
Infrared drying – fast and
precise
A fast alternative to the classic
oven drying method, infrared
dryers from the Sartorius series of
Moisture Analyzers are being
increasingly used. These analyzers
are compact and designed for
routine operation in production
and in applications involving
incoming inspection. They feature
the resolution of an analytical
balance, and are ideal for research
and development. Moreover,
these moisture analyzers are
supplied in versions with an EC
type-approval certificate for use
in legal metrology. Sartorius
offers a custom solution for
nearly every requirement. A wide
selection of infrared heat sources,
such as a halogen lamp, a CQR
quartz glass heater and a ceramic
heating element, enable these
moisture analyzers to be
optimally adapted to the
intended application.
Microwave drying
If the sample contains a large amount of
water, microwave drying is the fastest and
most effective sample heating method.
It takes just 40–120 seconds to vaporize
the water out of the sample. If under nor-
mal pressure conditions, the temperature
of the escaping water vapor measures
slightly over 100°C during the heating
process. As such, this method is comparable
to the 105°C setting in a classic oven dryer.
Differential weighing
If the oven drying method is absolutely
essential, the differential weighing pro-
gram of the LA Reference series of bal-
ances efficiently manages large volumes
of data and automatically calculates the
differences between the tare weight, initial
sample weight and backweight.
Coulometry –
selective detection of water
If you need to determine not the moisture,
but the water content of a sample, the
coulometric Karl Fisher titration method is
the most commonly used technique. A fur-
ther advancement in KF filtration is the
combination method incorporated in the
Water Detection System WDS 400. The
WDS 400 allows accurate measurements to
be performed down to a detection thresh-
old of 1μg of water. At the same time, it
enables quantitative differentiation among
surface water, capillary water, and water of
crystallization. In addition, the WDS 400
completely eliminates the need for the test
reagents required in KF titration.
Microwave Resonance Technology
The microwave resonance method offers
the advantage of particularly fast measure-
ment, well below one second. At the same
time, it is non-destructive, which means
that this versatile method can be used in
the laboratory and for online and offline
applications.
The basis of this new Sartorius product line
is the LMA300P, a modular system that
consists of a control and evaluation unit
and a resonator module in which the mois-
ture of a sample is measured. Applications
for the system cover measurement of the
moisture in pourable, granulated and
viscous products with a moisture content
between 0.1–60%.
The new PMD300 series can analyze
moisture levels online, meaning that
the analysis is performed and the results
passed to the processing unit continuously.
Highly sensitive sensors integrated in the
production line constantly analyze
moisture content and send the information
to the processing unit, which is directly
connected to the controller, ensuring that
the entire process is constantly controlled
and documented – and 100% automatic.
NIR Technology
Optical or spectroscopic methods exploit
the interaction between light and the
sample. If light is directed onto a sample,
part of that light is reflected, changing it
characteristically. The resulting change
in the light is then used to calculate the
moisture content. NIR spectroscopy is
a nondestructive technology, meaning
that the samples can be used for further
analyses. In addition, NIR spectroscopy is
fast, reliable and precise.
The LMA500 NIR calibrator is the first in
our new NIR spectroscopy series. It not only
analyzes moisture content, it can also do
on-site calibration, allowing adaptation
of methods to the materials being tested at
a given time. The NIR calibrator is designed
for pourable and granulated substances
with a moisture content between 0.1%
and 50%, depending on the sample.