Low Temperature Diesel Particulate Filter Regeneration by Atmospheric Air Non-thermal Plasma Injection System

An experimental study of the regeneration of diesel particulate filter (DPF) was conducted through the use of a self-designed Non-thermal plasma (NTP) injection system with an experimental temperature of 20–300 °C, with atmospheric air being used as the gas source. The results revealed that the PM could be broken down into CO and CO₂ by NTP, through a discharge reaction of the NTP reactor. As the temperature increases, the mass of C₁ (mass of C in CO) showed an overall declining trend. Interestingly, the mass of C₂ (mass of C in CO₂) and C₁₂ (the sum of C₁ and C₂) both showed an initial increase, followed by a decrease. The peak mass of C₁₂ appears at 150 °C, and both axial and radial temperature gradients are less than the limit of DPF temperature gradient at this temperature. In conclusion, DPF can be regenerated by the NTP technology at a lower temperature, which can aid in the avoidance of thermal damage of DPF. The technology boasts a great advantage in adopting atmospheric air as its gas source, which can not only reduce costs, but also is convenient.     

Analytical performance of glucometers in a tertiary care hospital

Point-of-care (POC) testing of glucose (glucometers) represents a convenient alternative to monitor glycemia since the measurement procedure is performed without delay after sampling of the capillary blood, thereby avoiding the metabolism by the blood cells of glucose present in plasma. Likely because of sample instability, there is no proficiency test provider in Brazil for this type of POC sample. In this context, this study aimed to evaluate the analytical performance of glucometers used in a tertiary care hospital. The glucometers used were the Accu-Chek Performa^® model from Roche Diagnostics, which use the principle of amperometry. The reference method was the reaction with modified hexokinase/glucose-6-phosphate in a Dimension^® device. The stability evaluation of the control samples showed that it can be performed up to 90 min after the collection of whole blood samples. In the two rounds performed, only one result of the 17 glucometers evaluated was out of the threshold of two standard deviation. Thus, this method for control of glucometers met the expectations and enabled comparing the glucometers in a hospital. Given the current quality guidelines, daily internal quality control of glucometers is recommended, besides at least two annual comparisons between the results of the glucometers and the reference method and one EQA every 3 months.     

Monitoring fuel quality: a case study for quinizarin marker content of unleaded petrol marketed in Greece

Fuel adulteration and cross-contamination lead to low-quality fuel products, which may cause increased environmental pollution, loss of taxes and engine problems. An establishment of a quality monitoring mechanism based on laboratory measurements may reveal problematic areas of the fuel supply chain. For the purposes of this work, 97 unleaded petrol samples were measured in order to quantify mass concentration of quinizarin, a substance used in Greece to easily mark the presence of 95 Research Octane Number unleaded petrol in other types of automotive fuels. The samples were obtained from petroleum retail stations selling different brands of fuels and located in different geographic regions of Greece. Statistical analysis of the results revealed quinizarin mass concentrations below the 3 mg L^?1 legislation specification limit and significant differences between brands and geographic regions, which may attributed to the structure of the fuel supply chain in Greece in combination with quinizarin properties and way of handling. Moreover, certain approaches were used for the calculation of decision limits for assessing compliance or non-compliance. These approaches take measurement reproducibility or estimated in-house uncertainty into account, in order to minimize the probability of false rejection.     

Reaction to Paul’s Column “Where do we find the graphs from PT programmes showing measurement performance?”

The tentative arguments mentioned by Paul De Bievre are discussed and alternatives are given that may lead to different insights.     

Validation of primary formaldehyde gas standards prepared by dynamic thermogravimetry through a tri-national comparison of gaseous formaldehyde amount fraction

A validation study for primary formaldehyde gas standards was performed at three National Metrology Institutes: the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS), the National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ) and the National Institute of Metrology of China (NIM). The studied materials had a nominal amount fraction of 2 μmol/mol formaldehyde in nitrogen balance and were prepared in 10-L aluminum cylinders by KRISS. The impurities in the materials were analyzed using a gas chromatograph/atomic emission detector and a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR). The stability of the materials was assessed for 1 year by KRISS using paraformaldehyde as a source for the primary standard gas and a cavity ring-down spectrometer (CRDS) instrument as the measurement method. The amount fraction of formaldehyde in the materials decreased linearly by 0.74 % each month. The studied materials that exhibited similar linear rates of decline were distributed to the participants. After the measurement was completed by the participants, the materials were returned to KRISS and the stability analysis based on the primary standard maintained at KRISS was repeated. NMIJ analyzed the materials using paraformaldehyde as the source of the primary standard of formaldehyde and FTIR analysis, whereas NIM used trioxane as the primary standard gas source and CRDS analysis. The results of the comparison revealed good agreement between the results and were within the expanded uncertainty of 2 % although each of them used different combinations of methods in the generation of primary gas standards and measurements.     

Comparison of standard addition and conventional isotope dilution mass spectrometry for the quantification of endogenous progesterone in milk

In this study, a standard addition–isotope dilution mass spectrometry (SA-IDMS) method for quantification of endogenous progesterone in milk has been described. The method validation results, linearity, limits of detection and quantification, recovery and uncertainty were fit for the purpose of assigning reference mass fractions to proficiency testing schemes. The developed technique was compared to the isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) method already existing in the laboratory. Analytical results of two milk samples were (1.377 ± 0.048) μg/kg and (4.457 ± 0.155) μg/kg by SA-ID-LC/MS method, while the results were (1.355 ± 0.019) μg/kg and (4.359 ± 0.059) μg/kg by ID-LC/MS, respectively. Since SA-IDMS was an effective quantitative method that overcame matrix effect, similar quantitative results from IDMS and SA-IDMS indicated that the quantification of progesterone in milk was barely influenced by matrix. Both IDMS and SA-IDMS could be used to assign reference mass fractions to progesterone in milk inter-laboratory proficiency testing schemes.