The analysis of food additives in carbonated beverages is important as many additives are controlled as part of the formulations of these beverages. In addition, analysis may detect possible counterfeiting of branded products. Being able to identify and quantify food additives in beverages quickly and with high sensitivity is therefore important.

Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE) is a powerful technique that can be used to reliably extract additives from polymer materials. ASE uses organic solvents at temperatures above their atmospheric pressure boiling points to deliver extractions equivalent to traditional extraction techniques, but with faster extraction times, reduced solvent use, and automation of the extraction process. ASE is recognized as an official extraction method in U.S. EPA Method 3545.

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) detected in surface and drinking waters, as well as in treated wastewater. They are an issue of increasing international attention due to potential environmental impacts. We developed an analytical method capable of determining PPCPs and their by-products in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) samples. This workflow was applied in a survey of 35 permeate samples obtained from a pilot anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR).

Polyethylene (PE) is widely used for containers, packaging material, etc. Because halogen compounds are often used as additives, it is important to know the halogen content when disposing or recycling PE products. By using a combustion ion chromatography (CIC) system consisting of the automatic quick furnace AQF-2100H and an ICS-1600 ion chromatograph, the concentrations of halogens and sulfur can be determined accurately and quickly.

The Thermo Scientific TRACE GC Ultra is applied for the analysis of vanillin from a cola soft drink. The sample was prepared using Thermo Scientific SOLA HRP solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridges, and the separation was performed on a Thermo Scientific TraceGOLD TG-WaxMS A GC column, with flame ionization detection.