OpTech
DANSENSOR ADDS NEW OXYGEN ANALYSER TO ITS PORTFOLIO OF MAP TESTING TECHNOLOGIES
Dansensor, the leading specialists in quality assurance for Modified Atmosphere Packaging, has added a state-of-the-art oxygen analyser to its portfolio of technologies.
The OpTech®-O
2 Platinum can measure oxygen levels inside a sealed package non-destructively, making it ideal for shelf life studies. It can also measure oxygen levels within a limited headspace – such as blister packs for pharmaceutical products or specialist food packaging such as coffee capsules.
For shelf life studies, a small platinum sensor, which comes as a ready-to-use sticker, is placed inside the packaging before the package is sealed. The OpTech-O
2 Platinum can then be used to interrogate the sensor through the packaging material over a period of time to monitor the oxygen levels within the package. For opaque or retort packaging, a different sensor, ImPULSE
TM, is available.
For analysing oxygen in a restricted headspace, a needle is used to penetrate the packaging. Unlike conventional headspace oxygen analysis, the measurement is done in situ – it is not necessary to extract any of the headspace gas. This means that extremely small volumes of headspace gas can by analysed. This is especially useful for packaging such as blister packs for oxygen-sensitive pharmaceuticals, or for capsules of fresh coffee, for example.
The OpTech-O
2 Platinum, developed by Dansensor’s parent company MOCON, works on the principle of optical fluorescence, where a platinum-based sensor emits light when stimulated or excited by an external light source. The degree of stimulation is inversely proportional to the amount of oxygen present. The amount of fluorescence is then read by the
OpTech detector and reported as a percentage of oxygen present in the package. Fluorescence technology does not consume oxygen, making it ideal for long term oxygen studies.