When designing and building systems that extract, dispense or blend chemicals, OEMs face a critical business decision: whether to fully engage as a manufacturer or to outsource certain or all aspects to a qualified contract manufacturer.

However, even within contract manufacturing there can be a broad range of capabilities.  Some shops focus on build-to-print projects.  Others offer a diverse range of capabilities, supply chain management and engineering services.

According to Jason Medhurst of Aztech Controls, there are benefits to a full-service approach that includes engineering.

“OEMs don’t always know how much engineering and design support they actually need,” says Medhurst.  “They’ll ask us to build a system and say, ‘we’ve engineered it for you’ and we discover the design is in its infancy.”

“In other cases, we receive well-developed drawings and the engineering requirements are minor.  Then, we might help them with supply chain management,” Medhurst adds, explaining this can include sourcing, purchasing and holding in inventory all the component parts of the system.

David Radnich, retired engineer, recounts a project for a just-in-time chemical blending and delivery system.  The project was part of a cost-cutting initiative to eliminate the need to purchase a very expensive chemical blend for a large semiconductor chip manufacturer.

After working up an initial design concept with his team, Radnich contacted Aztech Controls.  Together, the two groups quickly completed the design and the contract manufacturer built the entire system at its facility in Arizona.

“They built an extremely cost-effective prototype unit and were able to integrate it into our system very quickly; I’m talking a few weeks, not months,” says Radnich.

The next step was a full scale version of the system.

“The chemical blending system was truly state-of-the-art, next generation,” says Radnich.  “It saved the company money from an equipment, installation and operational standpoint.”

For more information, contact Aztech Controls at (480) 782-6000, visit www.aztechcontrols.com, e-mail: info@aztechcontrols.com.

When designing and building systems that extract, dispense or blend chemicals, OEMs face a critical business decision: whether to fully engage as a manufacturer or to outsource certain or all aspects to a qualified contract manufacturer.

However, even within contract manufacturing there can be a broad range of capabilities.  Some shops focus on build-to-print projects.  Others offer a diverse range of capabilities, supply chain management and engineering services.

According to Jason Medhurst of Aztech Controls, there are benefits to a full-service approach that includes engineering.

“OEMs don’t always know how much engineering and design support they actually need,” says Medhurst.  “They’ll ask us to build a system and say, ‘we’ve engineered it for you’ and we discover the design is in its infancy.”

“In other cases, we receive well-developed drawings and the engineering requirements are minor.  Then, we might help them with supply chain management,” Medhurst adds, explaining this can include sourcing, purchasing and holding in inventory all the component parts of the system.

David Radnich, retired engineer, recounts a project for a just-in-time chemical blending and delivery system.  The project was part of a cost-cutting initiative to eliminate the need to purchase a very expensive chemical blend for a large semiconductor chip manufacturer.

After working up an initial design concept with his team, Radnich contacted Aztech Controls.  Together, the two groups quickly completed the design and the contract manufacturer built the entire system at its facility in Arizona.

“They built an extremely cost-effective prototype unit and were able to integrate it into our system very quickly; I’m talking a few weeks, not months,” says Radnich.

The next step was a full scale version of the system.

“The chemical blending system was truly state-of-the-art, next generation,” says Radnich.  “It saved the company money from an equipment, installation and operational standpoint.”

For more information, contact Aztech Controls at (480) 782-6000, visit www.aztechcontrols.com, e-mail: info@aztechcontrols.com.

When designing and building systems that extract, dispense or blend chemicals, OEMs face a critical business decision: whether to fully engage as a manufacturer or to outsource certain or all aspects to a qualified contract manufacturer.

However, even within contract manufacturing there can be a broad range of capabilities.  Some shops focus on build-to-print projects.  Others offer a diverse range of capabilities, supply chain management and engineering services.

According to Jason Medhurst of Aztech Controls, there are benefits to a full-service approach that includes engineering.

“OEMs don’t always know how much engineering and design support they actually need,” says Medhurst.  “They’ll ask us to build a system and say, ‘we’ve engineered it for you’ and we discover the design is in its infancy.”

“In other cases, we receive well-developed drawings and the engineering requirements are minor.  Then, we might help them with supply chain management,” Medhurst adds, explaining this can include sourcing, purchasing and holding in inventory all the component parts of the system.

David Radnich, retired engineer, recounts a project for a just-in-time chemical blending and delivery system.  The project was part of a cost-cutting initiative to eliminate the need to purchase a very expensive chemical blend for a large semiconductor chip manufacturer.

After working up an initial design concept with his team, Radnich contacted Aztech Controls.  Together, the two groups quickly completed the design and the contract manufacturer built the entire system at its facility in Arizona.

“They built an extremely cost-effective prototype unit and were able to integrate it into our system very quickly; I’m talking a few weeks, not months,” says Radnich.

The next step was a full scale version of the system.

“The chemical blending system was truly state-of-the-art, next generation,” says Radnich.  “It saved the company money from an equipment, installation and operational standpoint.”

For more information, contact Aztech Controls at (480) 782-6000, visit www.aztechcontrols.com, e-mail: info@aztechcontrols.com.

Instantaneous, “point-and-measure” handheld analyzers that can be operated by virtually any technician deliver lab-quality moisture readings in seconds

In the chemical industry, measuring and controlling moisture content can impact product quality, production throughput, and processing efficiency, as well as the purchase price of feedstock and shipping costs.

A chemical compound or final product’s quality, drying efficiency, as well as transactions based on weight, can be adversely affected by improper moisture contents.  Furthermore, the satisfaction of legal requirements can be a determining factor influencing a company to measure moisture content, which can impact effectiveness.

Handheld devices are now available from Kett USA (www.kett.com) that allow even less-skilled personnel to take lab-quality moisture measurements.

By simplifying the process, chemical producers can increase the quality of their products from feedstock receipt, formulation, and processing to end product manufacturing and distribution.

For example, with Kett’s KJT130 Handheld Portable Instant Moisture Meter, the user simply points the instrument at the product and the moisture content is instantly shown on a digital display, with results accurate to .01% in a 0-100% measurement range.

For ease of use, the unit is operated via user friendly menu commands.  The unit, which is the size of a camcorder, is designed for frequent spot checks wherever necessary, on both stationary and moving (process line) products.  Moisture measurement data may be stored in the instrument, downloaded continuously, or manually recorded.

For more info, contact Kett: call 800-438-5388; email support@kett.com; or visit www.kett.com.

The fourth IUPAC/IUPAP Joint Working Party (JWP) on the priority of claims to the discovery of new elements has reviewed the relevant literature for elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 and has determined that the claims for discovery of these elements have been fulfilled, in accordance with the criteria for the discovery of elements of the IUPAP/IUPAC Transfermium Working Group (TWG) 1991 discovery criteria. These elements complete the 7th row of the periodic table of the elements, and the discoverers from Japan, Russia and the USA will now be invited to suggest permanent names and symbols.

Vanderbilt and Pittsburgh lead new center to identify toxic chemicals

Each day we are bathed in thousands of man-made chemicals that never existed in nature. They are in cosmetics and shampoo, food packaging and plastic containers, clothing and building materials, furniture and electronic devices.
Although the U.S. now produces more than 500 million tons of synthetic chemicals annually, a major “toxicological information gap” has developed regarding the risks they pose to human health and the environment. According to a number of government reports, less than 10 percent of the 80,000-odd chemicals in general commerce have been tested adequately to determine their health risks.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced the establishment of three new centers to develop alternative approaches for toxicity testing that could help fill the troubling gap. One is the Vanderbilt-Pittsburgh Resource for Predictive Toxicology (VPROMPT), which will receive $6 million for four years to develop toxicity test procedures based on three-dimensional human cell cultures, rather than the combination of standard two-dimensional cell cultures and whole animal testing that has been de rigeur until now.
VPROMPT is a collaboration between investigators at Vanderbilt University and the University of Pittsburgh. The lead principal investigator is M. Shane Hutson, associate professor of physics at Vanderbilt. The five co-principal investigators are Research Associate Professor Lisa McCawley, Professor Kevin Osteen, director of the Women’s Reproductive Health Research Center, and Gordon A. Cain University Professor John Wikswo at Vanderbilt and Rocky Tuan, director of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Engineering, and D. Lansing Taylor, director of the Drug Discovery Institute, at Pittsburgh.
“Given the situation we face, traditional toxicology testing procedures are simply inadequate,” said Hutson. “A full toxicological evaluation for a single chemical using traditional methods can cost millions of dollars, involve hundreds of test animals and take years to complete. And, as if the time and cost weren’t bad enough, existing tests haven’t proven very good at predicting chemicals’ effects on humans.”
The primary goal of the new center is to develop a series of 3-D human cell cultures that are heavily wired up with different sensors to record how they respond when exposed to small concentrations of potentially toxic chemicals. The forefront of cell biology is moving away from traditional 2-D culture of a single cell type towards 3-D cell culture of multiple cell types that more closely mimic the microenvironment of particular organs. These more complex cultures exhibit cell behaviors that are much more like those seen by cells in living animals. By making sure the cultures use human cells, the researchers hope to avoid misleading toxicity results caused by differences in how animal and human cells respond to the same chemical.
“We are very excited about the new Vanderbilt/Pittsburgh partnership to develop and apply innovative tissue-on-a-chip technologies to identify and evaluate potential harmful agents in the environment, and contribute towards improving the nation’s health,” said Tuan.
The researchers will develop four test platforms: one using liver cells; one using fetal membrane cells; one using mammary gland cells; and one using cells involved in limb and joint growth. They selected the liver because one of its functions is to remove toxic substances from blood coming from the digestive system before they can spread throughout the body. The fetal membrane and mammary gland cells were included because of the roles they play in reproduction. And they choose the cells involved in limb and joint growth because their role in development.
The researchers will expose the 3-D cultures to a battery of previously identified toxic chemicals that have been extensively studied using traditional methods so they can compare the results and determine how well the procedures they have developed predict the results of the older tests.

UNITAR’s e-learning course, “Classifying and Labelling Chemicals According to the UN GHS”.

The next edition of the course will take place from 20 April to 28 June 2015. Further information and registration are available on the following website: www.unitar.org/event/classifying-and-labelling-chemicals-according-un-ghs-unitar-e-learning-course-0.

The 2015 Canadian Chemical Directory has been published and is now available for purchase.

The 2015 edition has the Canadian chemical industry at your finger tips.

Ordering information is available at:
www.camfordinformation.com/Pages/cbg.html

Pele Mountain has expanded the business model for its Eco
Ridge property in Elliot Lake, ON to include production of
rare earth elements by processing monazite recovered from
mineral sands mine tailings.
Pele intends to develop a rare earth and uranium
resource at Eco Ridge, but recent market conditions have
not supported advancement of the project. The company
believes recycling monazite will help facilitate the race to
production of critical rare earths and will ultimately
support the further development of Eco Ridge as market
conditions improve.
The very high grades of rare earths contained in
monazite can facilitate substantial production from
relatively low tonnage, allowing for sharply lower capital
and operating expenses than a large-scale mine. Rare
earths make up about 50% of the weight of monazite.

BASF Canada is donating a total of $25,000 to local YMCA chapters and youth groups in communities where the company operates as part of KeepFit, an employee wellness program.
“BASF’s KeepFit program is all about encouraging our employees to make healthy lifestyle choices through daily exercise ,” said Carles Navarro, President of BASF Canada. “ We support them by providing interactive tools to track their progress and a charitable goal which will help children enjoy a healthier lifestyle.”
After making a commitment to stay active during the summer months and logging their progress, employees reached their goal to walk or exercise 25,000 kilometers. Every kilometer logged resulted in a $1 donation to the YMCA’s Strong Kids Campaign and the Boys & Girls Club of Cornwall/SDG totalling $25,000.
YMCA Strong Kids is an annual fundraising campaign focused on raising much needed resources to support proven YMCA programs that give kids the opportunities they need to reach their full potential: to live healthier, happier lives today, and grow into productive adults in the future.
The YMCA of Greater Toronto received a $4000 contribution. The following YMCA locations each received a $3500 contribution:

The Boys & Girls Club of Cornwall also received a $3500 contribution. The purpose of the club is to provide a safe, fun and supervised place where children and youth from all cultural and economic backgrounds, can participate in social, recreational and educational programs that are designed to enhance growth, personal development and potential.