News items March 2006

Malvern Instruments is co-sponsoring a one-day seminar to be held at K-Tron (Switzerland) Ltd, Niederlenz, Switzerland, on Tuesday 25th April 2006. The course will highlight process technology developments in the pharmaceutical industry, and will demonstrate how they can improve the performance of key unit operations. Malvern is one of six leading pharmaceutical industry suppliers sponsoring the event, and will be alongside K-Tron process group, Hosokawa Alpine, Howorth Pharma, Fitzpatrick and Leistritz. Attendance at the seminar is free of charge and includes free refreshments and lunch, and a detailed course manual in English or German. There will be table-top exhibits from sponsoring companies. Places are limited and registration closes on April 11th 2006. Visit www.ktron.com/seminar or call Sabrina Buffone on +41 62 885 7171. The seminar includes sessions addressing the topics of continuous processing and feeding, online particle size analysis, high containment,

An expanded series of global web seminars is now underway for Malvern Instruments. Now in its sixth year, Malvern’s web seminar program, with presentations in a number of different languages, provides a forum for customers and non-customers alike to learn about different aspects of particle characterization and rheology. The seminars are provided at no charge, and participants require only internet access for the presentation itself and the availability of a telephone to deliver the audio. VP Marketing, Randy Byrne, said: “At a very early stage of the technology’s availability, Malvern recognized the power and potential of web-based communications to deliver a whole range of customer support and educational materials. For a company like ours, with a truly global customer base and an extensive network of sales and support organizations, there was never any question that we could use web seminars to provide product and applications information, as well as training

Malvern Instruments has introduced an Inhalation Cell accessory for its new generation Spraytec laser diffraction particle size analyzer. Aerosol delivery is becoming increasingly important for a wide variety of therapeutic materials, providing a means of rapid drug delivery with high bioavailability. The Spraytec’s new Inhalation Cell is designed to support pharmaceutical development by enabling the rapid characterization of systems such as dry powder inhalers (DPIs), metered dose inhalers (MDIs) and nebulizers. Measurements can be carried out under fixed or varying flow rate conditions, so the system is ideal for the optimization of API delivery by the inhalation route. The new Inhalation Cell fits easily on to the Spraytec optical bench and is readily dismantled for cleaning. Once the cell is fitted, all the benefits of the Spraytec system become available to inhaler developers, delivering real-time, high-speed particle size measurements for the complete characterization

Different light effects in one device The LED Beacon 829 from WERMA with external trigger function allows a range of light effects to be generated with one and the same de-vice. The LED model can be operated either as permanent, blinking or rotating beacon. Light effectsset over control cables Thanks to the external trigger function, the range of light effects of-fered by the new LED Beacon 829 can be set by means of the electri-cially isolated, binary coded 24V control cables. The full range of functions of this beacon can be used to the full, allowing the machine operator to employ the different signals to indicate the various ma-chine conditions – without having to make adjustments to the beacon itself. In addition the LED beacon 829 can be used in conjunction with both positive and a negative trigger logic. Extremely bright LEDs for a colour intensive light effect The use of LEDs ensures a high degree of resistance to shocks, vibra-tions and other mechanical

Almeco, active for over 30 years as a manufacturer of industrial fans, has exclusively added the Dresser Roots EasyAir 8000 blowers to its product range. Dresser Roots is the premier global manufacturer of rotary positive and centrifugal blowers and systems. As a result of a continuous commitment to improvement, the EasyAir 8000 product line has been introduced as the next generation of blower package units. The EasyAir 8000 blower package systems are designed for the efficient, customer-friendly supply of oil-free air for aeration in waste water treatment, pneumatic conveying of powdered or granular products including foodstuffs and farmaceuticals etc. , and many other applications in a variety of industries. The EasyAir 8000 blower package system provides the following features: - Patented, optimised auto-belt tension system, reducing drive maintenance - Ventilated enclosure with high noise attenuation and heavy duty powder coating for optimum protection -

The Malvern ALISS at-line particle size analyzer has been named winner of the Powder/Bulk Solids 2005 Innovation Award in the Processing category (www.powderbulksolids.com). According to the organisers, the award recognizes the quality and efficiency of the product as well as the degree to which its technology has contributed to overall productivity in the dry processing and bulk handling industry. Launched last year, the Malvern ALISS at-line particle size analyzer for dry powder processes enables measurements to be made in an automated laboratory or manually close to the process line. It offers the benefits of robust industrial technology normally used on-line and can be easily transformed to a full on-line system at a later date. This allows optimization of a number of mills to be performed off-line before having the potential to dedicate the system on-line for a particular key line. Malvern ALISS can be centrally located amongst multiple mills, reducing the

Scientific seminars delivered via the web focus on hot topics in rheology On 30 January, Malvern Instruments launched a new monthly internet forum which will focus on novel or expanding areas of interest in rheology. Live web seminars are scheduled to take place each month, at which leading rheologists from academia and industry will present their work. The first of the web seminars was given by Dr Lynn Walker, Professor of Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and covered ‘Shear alignment of nanoparticle arrays templated by block-copolymer mesophases’. This is now available on the Malvern website as a downloadable presentation that can be viewed anytime. Excellent presentations to date have also included Dr Susan Muller, Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkley on the subject of ‘Instabilities in viscoelastic flows’. Among the list of future speakers will be Dr Martin Sentmanat of Xpansion Instruments on ‘Making extensional viscosity measurements of polymer systems’.

Emotron is reinforcing its market presence in China with the opening of an office in Shanghai. Six new distributors in different regions of China have already been linked to the office. The purpose of this strategic venture is to become more involved in the Chinese market and to deliver quick and effective service and support to the company’s distributors. “We have really succeeded in entering the Chinese market, which is very important for us. The new office gives us more resources and enough power to assert ourselves in this vast market. Furthermore, China is an important stepping stone to other countries in Asia, and the new office will be a significant base for us in the region as a whole,” says Jan-Eric Bergström, president of Emotron AB. Emotron has contracted two people for the new office. Li Xiaohai (left) is the senior technical supervisor, and Liu Dong Bo (right) is the sales and office manager. Both have many years’ experience working with European

Collaboration between the Netherlands and Japan Waalre-based Goudsmit Magnetic Systems has, together with its Japanese partner Seiho, recently developed a completely new metal separating system. Thanks to this system, called the LenaStar, foodstuffs are stripped of metal contaminants in two phases. This new metal separating system will be introduced at the Anuga Foodtec in Cologne (Hall 5.1- K, stand 039). In phase one a specially developed, very strong magnet removes all magnetic and slightly magnetized particles in a free-fall system. Subsequently the specially developed metal detector in phase two concentrates solely on the non-magnetic particles. The detector is now no longer hindered by the presence of magnetic particles and can do its job optimally. The LenaStar has already been employed for some time in the Japanese foodstuff industry and performs, amongst other duties, as a ‘’clearing station’’ for imported foodstuffs. Considering the fact that the Japanese foodstuffs industry must satisfy even

Multimedia CD-Rom HECHT-Anlagenbau Highest standards in hygiene, work and product safety, accurate reproduction and extreme quality are several of the analysed specifications applied in the development of the ProClean® systems from HECHT. ProClean® is the quality designation for specific solutions developed with and for our individual clients needing high quality solutions for tasks in the pharmaceutical, chemical and food industries. See 3 Animationen about HECHT-Containmentsystems.

Messrs. Fördertechnik STARICK GmbH, Bottrop (D), represented in The Netherlands by Stortgoed-in-beweging, has recently received an important new order for the supply of two big bag filling and weighing stations. These stations will be supplied to one of our English clients in the London area, as a completion of a new Sewage Sludge Drying Plant, under construction. With these Big Bag Filling- & Weighing Stations dried sewage sludge pellets, so-called Biosolids, conveyed by means of ridgid screw conveyors from storage silos, will be filled and weight out into anti-static big bags. Possible fine dust as well as developed odour will be aspirated to a Dust Collector, integrated in the Sludge Drying Plant. The supply and mounting of these facilities are planned for July 2006.

ACHEMA 2006 Stand Number 6.2 H21 Following the success of its precision glass microspheres for calibrating 200 mm diameter sieves, Whitehouse Scientific is to introduce a new set of single dose standards for 100 mm and 40 mm test sieves. The standards will be launched at ACHEMA 2006 (15-19 May 2006; Munich). The new standards can be used to calibrate mesh sizes from 20 to 3350 microns and are accurate down to 1 micron. Unlike the ISO microscopic method of calibration (which requires 10 different parameters to specify a sieve mesh and analyses less than 1% of the sieve surface), the microsphere method measures at least 80% of the surface and produces one unambiguous result, the equivalent spherical aperture. This is effectively the cut point of the sieve and makes sieve matching very easy. The test takes minutes to perform and sieves need not be returned to the manufacturer. All measurements are traceable to NIST.

WCPT 2006; April 23-27, 2006; Orlando, USA - Booth # 306 Malvern Instruments will play an active role at the 5th World Congress on Particle Technology (April 23-27, 2006; Orlando, FL, USA), contributing sessions at the conference and participating in the trade exhibition. Malvern’s conference speakers will include Dr David Higgs, Business Development Manager, who will present a paper entitled ‘Using Advances in Communication Tools for the Education of Users of Particle Characterization Instrumentation’ in the session on ‘Outreach Activities in Particle Technology’. Dr Alan Rawle, Divisional Manager - Applications Support, will speak about ‘Refractive index verification via comparative wet and dry laser diffraction measurements’ in the ‘Particle Size Measurement – I’ session. On display will be the Malvern Zetasizer Nano, now used extensively for the measurement of particle size, stability characterization using zeta potential, and molecular weight - for routine measurements and those at the leading

In response to an increasing demand for robust and stable particle size standards, Whitehouse Scientific has extended its range of Monospheres down to a size of 9 microns. The company now provides more than 50 monodisperse glass microsphere standards, up to a maximum of 5 mm. The standards are suitable for calibrating all particle sizing instruments from image analysers to laser diffraction systems. These particle size standards have an exceptionally narrow size distribution. As well as for particle size analysis, they are used in a number of other applications including absolute calibration of filter media, micro engineering and precision spacers, and cosmic dust simulation. The glass beads are sorted by shape as well as size to ensure high sphericity, and are supplied with NIST traceable certificates. A major advantage of these beads compared with latex standards is that they are available as dry powders. As a result they are highly stable in all conditions

Following the success of its precision glass microspheres for calibrating 200 mm diameter sieves, Whitehouse Scientific is to introduce a new set of single dose standards for 100 mm and 40 mm test sieves. The standards will be launched at ACHEMA 2006 (15-19 May 2006; Munich). The new standards can be used to calibrate mesh sizes from 20 to 3350 microns and are accurate down to 1 micron. Unlike the ISO microscopic method of calibration (which requires 10 different parameters to specify a sieve mesh and analyses less than 1% of the sieve surface), the microsphere method measures at least 80% of the surface and produces one unambiguous result, the equivalent spherical aperture. This is effectively the cut point of the sieve and makes sieve matching very easy. The test takes minutes to perform and sieves need not be returned to the manufacturer. All measurements are traceable to NIST.

ACHEMA 2006 (15-19 May 2006; Frankfurt, Germany)- Process Systems Stand No: 5.0 H4 Malvern Instruments will introduce two new online particle size analyzers. The Malvern LPS (Liquid Process Sizer) provides a complete solution for continuous measurement in liquid streams while the Malvern Insitec D is a fully integrated on-line particle size measurement solution designed for use in environments where there is the potential for dust explosions. At the heart of both systems is Malvern’s proven and industrially rugged Insitec laser diffraction-based particle size analyzer technology. The Malvern LPS is designed for continuous industrial use at- or on-line. It can accurately and reproducibly measure a very wide range of process streams, from highly concentrated mineral slurries through to lipid emulsions. Each component of the system – sampler, pre-diluter, cascade diluter, measurement cell, and software – can be individually tailored to the process, ensuring that even the most challenging applications can be tackled effectively. The new

Malvern Instruments will host a series of free seminars at various locations around the US and Canada during 2006. Provided as a service to industry and academia, the classroom-style seminars are all free of charge. They provide an ideal opportunity for current and potential customers to learn about the company’s latest range of products and applications solutions. A key focus this year will be the use of particle characterization techniques in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Other topics to be covered during 2006 include: particle characterization and dispersion rheology (April 12th in Baltimore, MD; May 11th in Chicago, IL), and the application of rheology and particle characterization to paint, inks and coatings (October 18th in Chicago/Pittsburgh). In addition a Mastersizer User Meeting will be held on September 27th in Edison, NJ.