Latest News and Application Notes

In the race between the tortoise and the hare, which style of instrument analysis is best for your lab? Slow and steady or fast and loose? Unlike the fable, however, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to elemental analysis, and that is precisely why LECO's instruments do not employ one-size-fits-all methods.

As global industrialization has increased, so too has global waste. Over 2.6 trillion pounds of waste are generated worldwide each year. Energy demands continue to grow year over year, and the Earth's population is looking toward greener solutions. Those 2.6 trillion pounds of trash may be waste now, but some of it may be suitable as biomass.

How do you handle the analysis and characterization of a complex sample like whisky*? In a recent interview with eFood Lab International, Dr. Geraint (Taff) Morgan of the Applied Science & Technology Group at the Open University, UK, says a 1D quadrupole GC-MS is sufficient for routine analysis, but when he really wants to dig into the non-target analysis of a complex sample, he turns to GC-TOFMS and GCxGC-TOFMS, such as that employed by the LECO Pegasus^® BT 4D.

For those of us old enough to remember life before computers, it's impossible to deny the convenience modern software has brought to our lives. Just the speed at which a letter can be written up (legibly!), copied, and dispersed to colleagues around the world via email might have been considered unthinkable eighty-six years ago, when LECO was founded. But with the advent of software has come numerous frustrations as well. Have you ever learned one shortcut in one piece of software, such as Ctrl+Shift+S to save as, only to find it's something completely different in another (F12, perhaps?). If you develop a flow to your work in one piece of software but have to move to a different program for a different instrument, you can actually lose productivity as you struggle to switch gears and relearn your flow.

That's not how LECO likes to work. One of the cornerstones of our success is our Cornerstone^® brand software. Whether you're measuring moisture on a TGM800 or determining carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur simultaneously with a CNS928, our Cornerstone software is the same. It looks the same, it acts the same, and it's laid out the same, making it easy and intuitive to move from instrument to instrument as you process your samples.

There is something satisfying about watching all of the numbers on the clock and the calendar roll over to a fresh start in a new year, and that sense of a fresh start and a chance to begin anew is celebrated the entire world over. Many of these celebrations include hopes and wishes for luck, fortune, and longevity and are underlined by offerings of food and drink. After all, you should always start a new year in the way you hope it to continue!

Proper maintenance is more than just an annual checkup. Whether it's for your body or your instrument, a comprehensive support plan will bring you peace of mind about your health. That's why LECO has launched comprehensive maintenance plans for most* of our Cornerstone instruments in the United States.

Got milk? The infamous advertising campaign started in 1993 for the California Milk Processor Board and was an instant success. The strength of the advertisements stays true even today, with 90% of all Americans aware of the slogan. Though the campaign has been retired in all but California these days, the dairy industry is continuing to grow around the world. A huge part of this forecasted growth comes from the growing interest in dairy protein.

If you make the same thing the same way every time, you would expect to get the same results. But anyone working in a quality control lab knows just how much variability there can be on the same line, especially when working with organic materials such as those used to make whiskey. Small changes in temperature or atmospheric humidity, or the quality of the initial mash or final barrels can change the aroma profiles of the final products, and the aroma profiles themselves can be the first indicator of a problem on the production line if they can be analyzed and characterized with enough speed and confidence.

Here in America, millions of families will be sitting down to a hearty Thanksgiving meal on November 24. While many minds are caught up with the necessary preparations for this dinner, few will be thinking of the metallurgical and elemental analysis preparation that went into crafting the very materials used to create Thanksgiving dinner. From the carving knife to the oven that roasted the turkey and most of the pots and pans in-between, chances are good that LECO has touched at least part of the preparations for your dinner.

Farmers are fortune tellers. In so many ways, they must predict what will happen in the future. What seed do they plant? How many? Will there be a drought? What will their yields be? What will the market be like? Everything science can do to give farmers an edge in their predictions can help make their futures more secure. One such advantage arises from carbon and nitrogen determination in soil, fertilizer, and plant tissue.