Yes. There is a flame detector and a solenoid that will shut off the fuel gas if the flame goes out. Another safety feature is the Level Sensor that ensures the U-Tube is filled before starting. There is a gas/air mixture that is flammable and, if the U-Tube is not filled, can escape outside causing a potential fire hazard.go to app settings and press "Manage Questions" button.

The supplied gas regulator does not go on the gas cylinder but is fixed on the back of the instrument. It will handle the pressure straight from propane, butane, or LPG cylinders (20Bar or less). The user needs to provide a hose connection at the cylinder for attachment to the provided hose. They will just use the shut-off valve on the cylinder to provide or turn off the gas.

It varies a little between 0.2 - 0.3 L/min.

No. Acetylene can not be used because it is too hot. It could melt some of the materials and the emissions will be shifted in wavelength outside of where we are measuring.

In general, Propane is better than natural gas. The lower caloric content in natural gas will not excite the ions as much so you will lose some of the low end sensitivity. Depending on the nature of your samples, that may or may not be an issue. Once an instrument is configured for natural gas it cannot be used for Propane. It would be possible to convert it back to Propane but that would require going inside the instrument and replacing a few parts. Not a very practical situation. If you absolutely must use natural gas it will probably still work for you. I encourage you to use Propane. The bottles are readily available (I use regular barbeque Propane) and if needed, you can get special Instrument Grade Propane from chemical supply houses. I only mention that depending on your samples and how low you need to measure.

That pressure is right on the threshold of what is needed. If it is closer to 1.7 kPa than 2.1 kPa there might be a problem. I recommend Propane/Butane/LPG if at all possible. Can natural gas be obtained in a bottle? If so, that would allow a higher pressure and we would be certain it will work.

Question:

99.9%, 99.5%, 99.0% are percentage purities of gas available. In the manual you suggest that butane is better for barium (Ba) readings. What about sodium (Na) readings? Do Na readings show increased accuracy in butane vs. propane?

Answer: There is no increased accuracy with Sodium using either Propane or Butane. The purity of gas depends on how much precision you need, the levels you will be measuring, and the environment you are using the instrument in. Most industrial users do well with regular "BBQ" Propane. We have a customer in a similar business as you and he prefers to use instrument grade. I would try the regular Propane and see if you get good results before going to the more expensive grades. If you want to use Butane you may need to go to a higher grade from a chemical supply house.

There is no increased accuracy with Sodium using either Propane or Butane.

Yes, the BWBXP can be used with cylinders. That is how they are used at BWB and by most of our customers. The pressure of propane in such bottles is a bit less than 20 bar and butane is a bit less than that. The in-built regulator will handle that input. It delivers 37 mbar to the instrument.

The pressure supplied should be somewhat above the 37 mbar to ensure a good regulation but I am not sure just how much more it should be. The flow is dependent on the flame setting and usually runs about 0.23 l/min.

Your desire to enclose the instrument in a fume hood should be OK. The amount of heat generated is not as much as hotter spectrophotometer types and that flow rate should be very adequate to remove all the heat. The calibration will be somewhat affected by ambient temperature fluctuations. The amount would be determined by just how much fluctuation there is. However, we have a unique feature we call Calibration Correction. It allows even a multiple point calibration to be easily corrected in less than a minute. This feature can be used not only across the day but over days and weeks. To get a better understanding of this feature please view the video on our website

It should be OK with a few suggestions:

• Keep the rate of air flow in the fume hood the same throughout the session.

• Keep the flow as low as possible to still perform as needed.

• Do calibrations and sample readings the same while the fume hood is operating

We do not use a water separator nor is one needed with our BWB Flame Photometer. Other makers use a much higher air pressure and requirethe water separator. Our compressed air is lower and does not have the issue of water falling out. A test was completed using a humidity chamber and the only way that water came out was to have a steaming bath in the chamber where the compressor was drawing up the visible steam

Question:

For using Propane as a fuel supply are there any special Grade requirements?

Answer:

For Propane you can get a standard cylinder at many locations that supply this for common barbecue use or common heating systems which are applicable to use with the BWB Flame Photometer.

Questions:

Gas requirements- what pressure and flow rate of gas is required for the BWB XP flame photometer?

Can it work off gas cylinders (small 5/10kg canisters) or 'gas containers'?

We do have pressurised propane gas lines within the building but if the system was installed into an area where there was no gas supply.

What matrices can be analysed?

Would the presence of heavy metals (such as uranium) interfere with the analysis?

Have you analysed Lanthanide series elements such as gadolinium?

The obvious advantage is that it is a small, compact unit, easily transported and would fit into a small space. We would install within a fume hood enclosure with an extract of 0.5 to 1m/s. Would this be sufficient to remove the heat generated from the flame?

If the ambient temperature was fluctuating, would the calibration be affected?

Answers:

Yes, the BWB-XP can be used with cylinders. That is how they are set up by BWB Technologies and most of our customers also use them. The pressure of propane in such bottles is a bit less than 20 bar and butane is a bit less than that. The in-built regulator will handle that input. It delivers 37 mbar to the instrument. The pressure supplied should be somewhat above the 37 mbar to ensure a good regulation. The flow is dependent on the flame setting and usually runs about 0.23 l/min. The BWB-XP is a low temperature flame emission spectrometer. As such, it only measures Na, K, Li, Ca, and Ba. That is one of the main advantages for most users, if these are the only elements one is interested in. Most of the other elements do not interfere making the analysis much easier. The Lanthanides cannot be analysed. Your desire to enclose the instrument in a fume hood should be OK. The amount of heat generated is lower than most other spectrophotometer types and that flow rate your hood provides should be very adequate to remove all the heat. The calibration will be somewhat affected by ambient temperature fluctuations. The amount would be determined by just how much fluctuation there is. However, we have a unique feature we call Calibration Correction that makes even a multiple point calibration easy to correct for in a matter of less than a minute. This feature can be used not only across the day but over days and weeks. To get a better understanding of this feature please view the video on our website on www.bwb-america.com

Question:

What value inlet gas pressure is recommended for the BWB XP flame photometer? Our customer has the pressure gas distribution in the range of 1.7 to 2.1 kPa. Is this a suitable pressure for the BWB Flame Photometer?

Answer:

That pressure is right on the threshold of what is needed. If it is closer to 1.7kPa than 2.1kPa there might be a problem. I recommend Propane/Butane/LPG if possible

If for some reason the nebuliser is accidentally changed from the factory pre-set position or the raw readings displayed are unstable or are exceptionally low, then the needle will need to be re-set. This can be achieved by following the simple steps below:

Turn on the flame and wait until the machine has reached a stable temperature. Aspirate DI water. Loosen the nebuliser needle locking nut. Slowly unscrew the needle from the nebuliser until bubbles start appearing from the aspiration tube. Screw in the needle until the bubbles just cease. Aspirate 100ppm K solution. Place the machine into Read mode. Slowly screw the needle into the nebuliser, adjusting it by 1/8th of a turn at a time and adjusting the gas to provide a stable flame. During this adjustment monitor the Raw readings of K on the LCD. When the readings reach their maximum value make a final gas adjustment. The Factory minimum for 100ppm K is 26000 Raw. (A nebuliser set on one machine may differ in readings when fitted to another) Aspirate DI Water. Do a single point calibration of 100ppm K. After calibration aspirate 100ppm K and monitor the accuracy of the ppm reading. The factory maximum tolerance is +/- 1.5% over 1 minute.