A quartet of laboratory products from Mettler Toledo has made a clean sweep at leading chemical manufacturer Clover Chemicals
Clover Chemicals was established in 1990 by working directors Des Eustace and James Tobias and has enjoyed huge success throughout the UK and Ireland.
Boasting over 200 products, the company is currently expanding into Europe and already has customers in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain.
It manufactures cleaning chemicals including bactericidal cleaners, deodorisers, food hygiene products, sanitisers, degreasers, laundry systems, soaps, car care products, fresheners, descalers, floor care products and washroom hygiene.
The company is focused on developing and expanding this range to offer even more specialised products in different areas of the market.
The site in Whaley Bridge was experiencing difficulties with its measurements due to different product viscosities and the use of traditional methods - such as weighting bottles - which were time consuming and prone to errors.
The company wanted to move away from these methods because "weighing in the raw material directly into the formulation vessel avoids the loss of materials", explains chemist Henry Brew.
"Also in our field of formulation, product yield is not an issue because we work with fixed standard volumes".
To improve processes and save time and money, it required new equipment.
After a series of discussions and extensive sample testing at Mettler Toledo's on-site laboratory in Leicester, Clover Chemicals chose it as its preferred supplier.
Brew says: "It became apparent to us that Mettler Toledo's balances and electrochemical probes were precise and delivered consistent results.
"Moreover, these devices proved to be rugged enough to meet the demands of a busy manufacturing and laboratory environment.
"In particular, the DA100M three-place density meter has been very useful in terms of analytical precision during quality control processes".
The new equipment is being used, among other things, to test cleaning products and weigh materials for compounding.
The PG4002 balance is ideal for everyday work in the laboratory and production processes explains Brew: "the equipment has been instrumental in the analysis of incoming raw materials, problem solving during R and D projects and reliable standardisation in chemical analysis.
"One of the balances is used in our quality control laboratory to weigh raw materials - as they can alter the physico-chemical properties of our formulations.
"The other balance is a very valuable tool during the formulation process in the R and D department. "Due to the reliability of the balances, the specifications of our products can be met".
The PG4002 offers fully automatic calibration technology to guarantee the accuracy and reliability of weighing results while VariCal enables the balance to calibrate at up to four different points through the weighing range.
The robust chemical resistant housing and monobloc weighing cell effectively protect against overload and impact and the large square pan provides a secure surface for weighing objects - perfect for the conditions at Clover Chemicals.
In addition software allows for full recording to GLP standards. "By upgrading to the DA100M density meter, density can now be measured more accurately.
"Therefore the specification ranges of our tested products can be narrowed down," adds Brew.
The meter has a built-in Peltier thermostat and two operator levels preventing unauthorised modifications of measuring methods and instrument settings.
An automatic sampling pump ensures accurate results by preventing common errors such as air bubbles, remaining sample or rinsing solvents in the measuring cell.
The company also uses an ion meter, in conjunction with a calcium ion selective electrode, to measure the binding effects of negatively charged polyelectrolytes in some of its formulations.
"The ion meter has been very useful to us for investigating the binding behaviour of polymeric systems with calcium," reports Brew.
The installation has been a success by saving time due to the print out of results including temperature details.
It also provides traceability for audits.
"The equipment is easy to use and staff with little or no experience can be easily trained to operate it," says Brew.
In addition to the original equipment installed, a digital portable refractometer has been bought to replace the analogue unit to eliminate the error of ambiguous readings on a linear scale.
The refractometer is used in three ways: "the solids content is measured for cleaning products to ensure the level of active ingredients is correct with the Brix scale while the soluble aggregate formation and irregular physico-chemical properties of the formulation can be detected by using the refractometer with the Brix scale.
"Lastly the standard clarity and stability of formulations and raw materials is monitored by using the refractive index mode," concludes Brew.
