Latest News and Application Notes

Heavy fuel oil, also known as bunker fuel or residual fuel oil, is a complex mixture used primarily in the shipping industry. Over the years, the regulations on heavy fuel oil have become more stringent to control sulfur emissions that were damaging to the environment. As a result, this type of fuel is frequently limited to 0.5% sulfur by mass, and it is therefore critical to know the composition of your oil. Such a complex sample requires the sort of heavy lifting that can only be provided by a high-tech, high-resolution GCxGC mass spectrometer.

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has long been an invaluable tool in a chemist's belt. With its ability to tease apart the compounds in a sample, identifying even trace analytes, it is able to perform specific tests and pinpoint what, exactly, is in the material being analyzed. But what can you do when GC-MS isn't enough?

LECO recently concluded a webinar series on agricultural applications of our instruments with a presentation by Dr Frank Dorman of Dartmouth College, Department of Chemistry, formerly of Penn State University, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. While at Penn State, Frank worked on an environmental forensic investigation of wastewater applied to agricultural fields.

LECO's Separation Science division has been seeing a lot of growth, and with that growth grew a new Global Application and Development Director! Nick Jones sat down with Measured Science host Andrew Storey to discuss LECO's GC-MS technology and why Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (TOFMS) is the future.

Petroleum products are used the world over, and they all start with crude oil refinement. In distilling, cracking, and reforming the crude oil into petroleum products, many analytical instruments and tests are needed to monitor the process and maintain the quality demanded by consumers and regulations.

Environmental crises are now a daily concern in labs all around the world, and scientists are racing to get ahead of the problems. In their latest e-book partnership, LCGC and LECO teamed up to turn a spotlight on some of the latest GC-MS and GCxGC-MS techniques that can help labs pull ahead of the curve.

It seems like every December, the world becomes just a little more interested in frankincense and myrrh. Just what are these gifts mentioned in the Christmas story? And what sets them apart?

With an increase of digital content over the past two years, there has also been an increase of demands on your time. Not everyone can clear their schedules for a multi-hour or multi-day symposium of webinars. That's why LECO maintains our webinars on-demand, so you can empower your laboratory at your own pace.

On Friday, October 22, LECO hosted three GC-TOFMS experts for a spooky mass spectrometry symposium. Shari Forbes spoke about death and decomposition, Albert Lebedev gave a talk on mummies, and Jane Hill started the day with a look into diseases and a new method of diagnosing them.

For many, fear of the unknown can be paralyzing. A smell, a taste, an object that cannot be identified... for most people, it is a warning to stay away.

For mass spectrometrists, it is an invitation.

To celebrate the season, LECO is taking a look at the spookier side of mass spectrometry with a virtual symposium celebrating science beyond the grave.