For centuries, basic agricultural chemicals have been used, but it was in the 1950s that the genesis of modern agrochemical manufacturing and the first industrial-scale production of β-Hexachlorocyclohexane (B-HCH) began. This organochloride was mainly used to enhance the yield of wheat and cotton farms but was then banned after studies discovered that B-HCH was neurotoxic to humans and animals.
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In spite of decades of research into targeted pesticides, the difficulty of producing active ingredients that are toxic to pests and non-toxic for humans remains challenging.
Active ingredient and inert chemical compounds are regularly applied as seed treatments and fertilizers to boost crop yields, and preservatives to enhance the cosmetics of the end product. There are many primary and secondary benefits to using such agrochemicals, including higher product yields to support a massively growing global food demand and the unquantifiable economic benefits represented by a consistent and sustained food supply that is widely resistant to different environmental factors.
Pesticides are now well-entrenched in the human food chain, to the extent that agrochemical substances that were barred decades ago can still be found in soil samples from agricultural areas globally. It is thus crucial to examine food samples for pesticide residues to comprehend the reactivity of industrial active ingredients in agricultural environments.
Glas-Col earlier investigated the use of the QuEChERS method of mixing for extracting contaminants from food samples. This article will cover the role of evaporators in the determination of agrochemicals in food samples.
Evaporators for Pesticide Analysis
Evaporators are critical for establishing the presence and concentration of pesticides in the food and drink that humans are consuming. They are mainly used to concentrate homogenized samples for additional examination, normally through controlled heating and metered addition of nitrogen gas. Standard pesticide analysis necessitates analytes to be extracted from the sample via mechanical agitation before they are concentrated using an evaporator.
Evaporators typically use a dry heat source for sample sizes of up to 250 ml, with nitrogen recovery procedures to enhance the sustainability of pesticide analysis. Open evaporators add nitrogen to concentrated samples in well plates or test tubes via sterilized stainless-steel needles. The manifold gas can be heated along with the base plate to ensure exceptional thermal uniformity through the entire evaporating process.
Glas-Col’s ZipVap4 evaporator features a hinged manifold for simple loading and unloading of well plates. An accessible electronic user interface allows total control of process parameters for enhanced automation, ensuring the maximum standards of extract concentration before the extraction clean-up stage of pesticide analysis.
Evaporators from Glas-Col
Glas-Col is skilled in the manufacture and supply of innovative laboratory equipment for a range of academic and industrial applications. The company’s evaporators are equipped to meet the existing and developing challenges of various sectors.
These include:
- Basic Non-Heated ZipVap Evaporator
- FlexiVap Heated Evaporator
- FlexiVap Non-Heated Analytical Evaporator
- Heated Analytical Evaporator
- Advanced Heating and Mixing Evaporator
This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Glas-Col.
For more information on this source, please visit Glas-Col.