In 2015, Syngenta, a major agricultural company in the US, made a decision to acquire an OMNISEC Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) system from Malvern Panalytical.
Dr Kirt Durand, Senior Analytical Chemist at Syngenta describes the decision-making process, how the company is using the OMNISEC GPC system and his experience of working with Malvern Panalytical.
“We already have many Malvern Panalytical systems in our company, primarily for particle sizing but also rheology, so when it came to upgrading our GPC capability we were keen to take a look at OMNISEC,” says Dr Kirt Durand.
A GPC system is a major investment and we knew from previous experience that we could rely on Malvern Panalytical for truly excellent support. The OMNISEC is a great instrument but it is Malvern Panalytical’s service through the buying process that really sets the company apart from other vendors. That service has been consistent throughout this purchase and we’re confident we made the right choice.
Dr Kirt Durand, Senior Analytical Chemist, Syngenta
Syngenta is involved in the manufacture of a variety of agrochemicals , including herbicides, fungicides, pesticides. The company formulates many of these agrochemicals as liquid suspension formulations. Polymeric components of these formulations include anti-foaming agents; buffering agents; rheology/viscosity modifiers; wetting agents and dispersants. It is essential to maintain consistency in these polymeric ingredients to ensure overall product quality control.
“We’re a central analytical facility for the company,” says Dr Durand “so we see many different samples and apply a wide range of analytical techniques. GPC is vital for the polymeric components we analyze for determining molecular weight, molecular weight distribution and the amount of material present.”
We use it routinely to confirm that all the components in a formulation are in suspension, in the concentrations that they should be, most especially when we have a 2 High sensitivity gel permeation chromatography for agrochemical analysis manufacturing issue, when we’re investigating an out of specification product, for example, or an unforeseen interaction between a product and its packaging.
Dr Kirt Durand
This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Malvern Panalytical.
For more information on this source, please visit Malvern Panalytical.