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Continuous flow analysis in oceanography

Continuous flow analysis in oceanography

As someone with a deep love of the sea, I can’t help but think of oceans when I hear the name Astoria-Pacific. It seems very appropriate to me that the system on which Astoria-Pacific’s continuous flow analysis products are based was originally developed by an oceanographer.

Although the technique of continuous flow analysis, invented in the 1950s, was at first used for clinical analysis, it soon became clear that its advantages could be applied to many other fields – including analysis of sea water samples by marine and estuarine laboratories. Today, Astoria-Pacific’s Astoria and Astoria2 Analyzers continue to play a major role in oceanography.

To recap briefly, continuous flow analysis avoids the need for laborious, time-consuming preparation and analysis of individual samples by analysing a continuous flow of liquid – separated by air or gas bubbles into discrete samples. The result is automated, high-speed analysis that allows processing of much larger numbers of samples than other methods.

As well as speed, continuous flow analysis using Astoria-Pacific products offers great economy through their extremely low consumption of reagents. The ability to detect very low nutrient levels, thanks to micro-segmented flow analysis (µ-SFA), is another great advantage.

For example, their ultra-low-level method for orthophosphate in sea water works between 0.02 and 3.0 µm (as P), and has a calculable MDL of 0.0012 µm (as P). What’s more, it can process 42 samples per hour.

As well as photometric detection, Astoria and Astoria2 Analyzers can apply optional fluorometric methods which allow Ammonia, Nitrate or Nitrite analysis despite the level of salinity.

In addition to their speed, accuracy and ability to detect at very low concentrations, the Astoria-Pacific instruments boast a robust, durable construction and high levels of reliability and repeatability of analyses.