B&W Tek Takes Analysis, Testing, and Quality Control Award at CPhI

The CPhI Pharma Award for Excellence in Analysis, Testing, and Quality Control went to B&W Tek for its handheld laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) analyzer, NanoLIBS, which has been developed for rapid identification of solid materials based on elemental analysis. The instrument features a raster scan using a high repetition rate class 3B laser allowing for detection of elements including C, Li, and Be.

When a batch of salts is received, a sample less than a gram can be quickly taken in the receiving area and pressed into a tablet form on the spot. With the tableted salt, the NanoLIBS takes only seconds to give an identification result of the salt based on the elemental composition to notify the user whether the sampled drum is what it is supposed to be.

The NanoLIBS is lightweight with touch screen operation for rapid material identification using identification and investigation operation modes, giving results in seconds. The NanoLIBS features a high-brightness touchscreen and an intuitive workflow with its 21CFR Pt 11 compliant software, which provides rapid pass/fail results for material verification. Results are clearly displayed and can be reviewed on the easy-to-use touchscreen interface. User-defined libraries are easily generated for the rapid identification of unknowns with a Match/No Match result.

The NanoLIBS allows companies to quickly implement a ready solution for raw material salt identification that is easy to use and understand. Data from the device can be transferred via Wi-Fi or Ethernet to a computer to generate reports that provide traceability. The NanoLIBS gives pharmaceutical companies the complementary technology that they need to save time in analysis and significantly decrease down-time where raw materials are tied up in quarantine as they are tested.