Research associate Geert van Kollenburg can’t stop talking about the advantages of the spectrometer, a small and practical device. ‘In the future, everyone should have one in their phone’s camera,’ he says.
The scientist, who is currently attached to Eindhoven University of Technology, conducted research for several years at Radboud University, looking into the opportunities this device offers. A spectrometer measures the chemical composition of substances and materials based on the “colour” (or: electromagnetic radiation) they absorb. The technology is in frequent use in scientific and industrial laboratories.
‘A portable version of the spectrometer is already on the market,’ Van Kollenburg says. ‘But we can conceive of so many other applications for this kind of technology applications.’ Van Kollenburg will continue doing research into the applications of these kind of measurements in Eindhoven. New applications are increasingly investigated in the Radboud University research group Analytical Chemistry & Chemometrics, led by Jeroen Jansen.
Chicken fillets and coffee
At the beginning of 2020 for example, Van Kollenburg showed that the device could distinguish eight different supermarket chicken fillets with 90% certainty, without opening the packaging. ‘Using this technology, we were able to determine whether it was a standard chicken, a one-star or two-star chicken, or organic.’ He was also able to demonstrate that the sugar content in a cup of coffee can easily be read off using the spectrometer.
Spectrometers are hardly new, but Van Kollenburg has used a new method of data analysis on the basis of machine learning that allows large quantities of data to be analysed extremely rapidly. This allows for very small differences in material to be distinguished with great accuracy.
Chemical purity
Nouryon Chemicals also sees the advantages of the technology. The company makes a wide range of chemicals that in turn are essential ingredients for all kinds of semi-manufactured products and products in for example agriculture, cleaning and personal care products, and plastics and coatings.
‘When the raw materials we use are brought in, we first have to determine whether they are pure enough,’ says Henk-Jan van Manen, an analytical chemist at Nouryon and visiting researcher at Radboud University. ‘Currently, a sample has to be taken and then brought into the quality control lab, where a large piece of equipment assesses the purity. This takes a fair amount of time and uses up chemicals as well.’
Along with Van Kollenburg, Van Manen is now looking into whether the portable spectrometer can be used to carry out this purity assessment at Nouryon. ‘It could have benefits for sustainability. Compared to a large analytical device, this little gadget uses no chemicals and a fraction of the energy. It’s also safer to use, because the substance does not have to be moved. The fact that you can also detect very small amounts of water in a substance, down to as low as 0.01%, which we showed in a recent paper, makes it exceptional.’
The researchers have shown that the spectrometer is able to distinguish nine different solvents that are commonly used in industrial processes. Van Manen: ‘The next step is for us to put it into actual use at our production site. This will depend on the difference it would make in the number of analyses and how much faster it can be done. But I think it will work out well in practice.’
Van Kollenburg: "We have shown that this technology can be used effectively for assessing chemical purity, but I also see many other possible applications, for example in the pharmaceutical sector or for forensic investigation into illegal drugs. Now it is up to society to translate this technology into concrete applications, such as incorporating it into phones, so that consumers can use it easily as well.’
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