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Proficiency testing for biorefinery laboratories

What is the quality of your routine analyses? Are your procedures fit for purpose? Participating in proficiency tests is a convenient way to find out! RISE annually organizes tests for a number of chemical analyses used in pulp, paper and packaging applications. Also, this year, we are broadening the service by adding a third round for lignin.

Purpose

Proficiency tests are interlaboratory comparisons that give you regular and objective determination of the accuracy of your analyses and assesses the quality of your routine work.

For chemical analysis of samples from the biorefinery, reference material or standard substances are often lacking. By testing in several laboratories a robust assigned average value is obatined that can be used for the evaluation.

Proficiency tests are interlaboratory comparisons that give you regular and objective determination of the accu­racy of your analyses. It also assesses the quality of your routine work, stimulates technical improvement, and offers comparative overviews of the methods you are using. For accredited laboratories, partitioning in proficiency tests is an essential part of the quali­ty management system.

 Since several years, RISE annually organizes comparative tes­ting for a number of chemical analyses used in pulp and paper production and control. Up to 50 labora­to­ries take part in the testing of different properties. In order to arrange a statistically relevant com­parison at least five laboratories are required. The re­sults are compiled in a report, having the identity of the participating laboratories coded. At least three rounds are offered annually. In Round 1, the tests include analyses for pulp, in Round 2 liquid samples like white liquor, black liquor and effluents are distributed and Round 3 will focus on analysis of kraft lignin.

 

Method

RISE offers proficiency testing for pulp, process liquors and lignin. More than 40 parameters are optional. The samples are distributed by RISE and analyzed by each participant using their regular procedures.

In order to assess the quality of your routine work, you should use the procedures that are normally used in your laboratory. We do however always recommend procedures based on standard methods, and in order to assess differences in reported values, we encourage you to specify any deviations between your procedure and the standard method.

Deliveries

The results are compiled in a report, where the identities of the participants are confidential. Each participant is assigned a unique participation code in order to identify their results in the report.

More information

Anders Reimann working in the lab.

The deadline to register for this round is on 21 July, 2023. These pulp and paper samples will be distributed on 8 September, 2023, and the deadline for reporting the results is 27 October, 2023. At least five participating laboratories are required for each test.

Service

Proficiency tests for chemical analysis of pulp, lignin and process liquors

Standards

For each property, an assigned value (robust average) will be calculated using robust statistics (Algorithm A in ISO 13528). By using this method, outliers do not need to be removed since all values are scaled based on their deviation from the median value. By using the same algorithm, the uncertainty of the assigned value (robust standard deviation) will be determined.

Subsequently, each participant will be assigned a performance score (z-score) for each tested property based on the deviation from the assigned value and the uncertainty of the assigned value.

Price

See section "more information"

Delivery time

The samples will be distributed in early fall and results are reported in December.

More information

IPT2023_Infosheet_0.pdf (pdf, 339.82 KB)


Anders Reimann
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Sofia Regnell Andersson

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Sofia Regnell Andersson

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+46 76 876 71 60

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