Sartorius has extended its range of moisture analysers with the launch of the WDS400 water detection system

The WDS400 is a coulometric water detection system comparable with Karl Fischer, offering the ability to detect and separate surface water, capillary water and water of crystallisation in the range of 1ppm-15%. This is ideal for samples with low levels of water, or expensive samples where only small amounts are available for testing. The WDS400 will be particularly popular in areas where the costs of samples are high and the need for accurate results are imperative.

This new equipment is, says Sartorius, likely to become commonplace in the plastics, pharmaceutical, chemical, semiconductor, and food industries where low level moisture in the ppm range is important. Sartorius is already a supplier of advanced Moisture Analysis equipment to these industries, with the MA45, MA50, MA100 and MMA30 analysers being used in a wide range of QA and QC applications worldwide. The sample, typically 25-500mg, is heated in a quartz glass oven able to heat the sample up to 400C.

Dry nitrogen is passed over the sample and any released moisture is carried to the moisture trap where it reacts with diphosphorous pentoxide in the measuring cell. The amount of water present is calculated from the current used to regenerate the cell. This negates the need for hazardous test fluids. The system runs on Windows based software and produces graphical data and GLP compliant printouts.