METTLER TOLEDO introduces new Quantos® powder and liquid dispensing auxiliary modules that can be added to any 0.1mg or 0.01mg XP Excellence Series analytical balance. The addition of automated powder and liquid dispensing functionality to the balance increases laboratory efficiency, improves results, and eliminates errors in weighing, sample preparation, dilution and transcription.
New Quantos Q2 Powder Dispensing Module for XP Analytical Balances
By adding the new Quantos Q2 powder dispensing module to any XP balance with 0.1mg or 0.01mg readability, users can typically save up to 40% of their powder compounds. Even with today’s high-end balances, the minimum weight achieved can be compromised by the presence of the user disturbing the weighing process, especially when working in the low range of the balance. But by adding automation with the Q2 module to an XP205 analytical balance for example, the typical achievable USP minimum weight of the balance is lowered from 24mg to 15mg. It is possible to save precious compounds by using less material - especially important for expensive or toxic compounds and to support Green initiatives, while still maintaining compliance.
The Q2 powder dispensing module lets users take advantage of the innovative Quantos dispensing head technology which automatically dispenses the compound to a target weight and replaces the tedious activity of weighing out powders by hand with a spatula. By also serving to store the compound, the dispensing head improves the containment of dangerous compounds during weighing, and provides new ways for laboratories to maximize compound yields and to improve workflows.
New Quantos QL2 Liquid/ Solvent Dispensing Module for XP Analytical Balances
The dispensing functionality provided by the new Quantos QL2 module for liquids and solvents is a game changing approach to the preparation of reference standards and sample solutions in analytical laboratories.
Until now the amount of solution made up was determined by glassware tolerance and measurement subjectivity, not by the amount needed. Typically up to 99% of prepared solutions are disposed of without being used. With the Quantos QL2 module and an XP balance (fitted with the Q2 powder dispensing module for even greater performance), users can now prepare single-use solutions “on-demand” directly into a target vessel with unprecedented speed and accuracy, and can eliminate the associated expense of glassware management and wasted stock solutions. The amount of reference or sample substance is now weighed (by the user or automatically dispensed if the balance is also fitted with the Q2 powder dispensing module), and the solvent is then automatically added in the exact amount - by weight not volume, to achieve the target concentration. By adding the solvent gravimetrically, volumetric error is eliminated since the amounts of compound and solvent are not determined by the glassware tolerances but by the minimum weight specification of the balance. Any over/under weight of the solid is automatically compensated for by adjusting the solvent addition to reach the exact concentration. Scale-down is achieved since just the exact amount needed at the exact concentration can be prepared. The user is guided through the steps on a touch screen and all amounts and results are calculated automatically by the balance. A storage bottle fitted with liquid dispensing head can be dedicated to each commonly needed solvent for easy switching, thus avoiding rinsing and line flushing. Data is tracked via RFID chip avoiding potential transcription errors. Out-Of-Specification (OOS) errors that can arise from weighing and dilution processes can result in the analytical lab’s expenditure of significant resources to trace and resolve. Automating the solution preparation process using gravimetric dispensing technology significantly reduces the potential sources of error and thereby reduces the risk of OOS results.
Summary
The new Quantos Q2 and QL2 kits are available to anyone with a previously installed or newly purchased XP Series analytical balance having 0.1mg or 0.01mg readability. Complete retrofit services, including equipment qualification is available from METTLER TOLEDO. The new Quantos Q2 and QL2 auxiliary modules let XP analytical balance users take advantage of Quantos automated dispensing technology in virtually any laboratory setting. Users taking advantage of this latest innovation will discover unprecedented benefits to improve their work and their weighing results – while also saving time and money.
About Quantos
With the introduction of the original Quantos model in 2008, METTLER TOLEDO revolutionized the way powder compounds are weighed and samples prepared in analytical laboratories. Quantos automated powder dispensing technology has since been adopted across multiple industries, including more than 65% of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, and has been received with wide acclaim. Quantos is the winner of the 2009 ALA New Product Award and R&D 100 Award.