Mocon Installs Permeation Units at High-Altitude Tibetan Lab
- Published: January 11, 2011
MINNEAPOLIS, MN | Mocon, Inc. recently installed oxygen and water vapor permeation units in a Lhasa, Tibet, pharmaceutical testing laboratory. Located at 11,450 ft, the 2-mile+, above sea-level location, represents Mocon’s highest altitude installation. The units will be used to measure package permeation for traditional Tibetan herbal remedies and conventional pharmaceuticals.
The Lhasa laboratory received a Mocon OX-TRAN 2/21 ML and a PERMATRAN-W Model 3/33 MG Plus unit. Both units have been engineered to test permeation of either flat materials or finished packages/devices such as vials, pouches, bottles, blister cavities and syringes. However, in Lhasa, the units primarily will be used for high barrier testing of packaging structures with either aluminum foil or metallized layers.
The OX-TRAN 2/21 system also features barometric pressure compensation which “normalizes” the test results to sea level to ensure uniform test results worldwide, regardless of altitude or weather conditions. The OX-TRAN 2/21 also uses a patented coulometric sensor (COULOX) to detect oxygen transmission. It provides parts-per-billion sensitivity even in the presence of water vapor.
The newly-launched PERMATRAN-W Model MG 3/33 Plus water vapor transmission rate unit offers automatic relative humidity (RH) capability via “cutting edge” engineering. The new software interface is claimed “easy-to-use” and enables the instrument to quickly and simply achieve accurate and precise relative humidity conditions. Precise results are critical to understanding how barriers will perform in real-world conditions, the company reports.
The installation is part of an order Mocon received earlier in the year from China’s State Food & Drug Administration (SFDA) to supply 20 provincial pharmaceutical testing centers with top-of-the-line oxygen and water vapor permeation units.
In 2007, Mocon established an office, laboratory and service center in Shanghai to help provide leading-edge permeation technology for growing economies in the Asia-Pacific region. Additionally, Mocon is supported in the region by its agent, Danbell Equipment Company Lte., Beijing.
