Complete RoHS and WEEE compliance testing systems

Producers exporting to from the USA to Europe and China can assess, attain, and maintain compliance with new environmental regulations

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, one of the leading developers of analytical instrumentation in the USA, announces the availability of a complete range of analytical instruments to assist manufacturers in attaining Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive regulatory compliance.

In addition, Shimadzu provides all the equipment that companies need to assess ongoing compliance with established end-of-life vehicle (ELV) regulations.

With the WEEE already in place, and RoHS scheduled to take effect in July 2006, there is ongoing concern regarding the readiness of American companies to operate in full compliance.

Packing the potential to have the greatest global impact of any environmental regulations, the new directives not only affect every electronics manufacturer in Europe, but all manufacturers in the USA who want to offer their products on the European Market, or - in the case of RoHS - into China where that government is putting its Regulation for Pollution Control of Electronic products in place.

Such wide ranging regulatory measures can have a profound impact on the operations of affected organisations.

Within this environment, and responding to feedback from its customer base, Shimadzu has collected and centralised details and specifications for all the instruments manufacturers need to ensure compliance.

At the forefront of the product range stands the EDX series systems (energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometers) from Kratos Analytical, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shimadzu.

The EDX series presents a powerful general analysis instrument range for compliance assessment, enabling the simple, rapid screening of all the various substances regulated under the WEEE and RoHS directives, as well as under the extant ELV directive at parts-per-million (ppm) levels without pretreatment.

"In many cases, companies not selling directly into affected markets are under the same pressure to comply," noted Chris Gaylor, vice president, sales at Shimadzu Scientific Instruments.

"Companies which do business in Europe will undoubtedly require compliance along the full length of their supply stream".

Beyond the EDX series, Shimadzu satisfies the needs of those companies that seek more in-depth analysis.

A broad selection of instruments, tailored to specific substances, is available from Shimadzu to deliver more precise investigation or to act as a back-up method when verifying results.

Organisations seeking high-precision quantitative applications in the analysis of metals need look no further than Shimadzu's atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AA-6300), it says.

Simply dissolving the sample is all that's required to perform high-sensitivity measurements of both ferrous and non-ferrous toxic metals.

Measurement is possible not only of the precise levels of toxic metals added intentionally, but also of toxic metals contained within substances as impurities.

For the selective analysis of hexavalent chromium (Cr6+), the UVMini-1240 spectrophotometer allows easy quantitation after extraction from a sample at the pretreatment stage.

This method of diphenylcarbazide absorption photometry allows precise amounts of Cr6+ to be identified.

And if companies are dealing with brominated flame retardants, Shimadzu's IRPrestige-21 fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer and GCMS-QP2010 are available.

The IRPrestige-21, when equipped with a single-reflection type ATR attachment and a brominated flame retardant determination macro program, can determine the presence of these toxic substances within seconds.

The GCMS-QP2010 gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer can be used for a precise quantitative analysis of raw materials using thermal decomposition analysis to determine amounts of brominated flame retardants in plastics.

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