Components of SEASTAR™’s Certificates of Analysis:
1. Product Number: consists of the Product Grade, Product Type and Number Sequence in the format SGGTTNN, where:
- S: SEASTAR™
- GG: Product Grade
- 01 – SEASTAR™ Instrument Quality
- 02 – SEASTAR™ BASELINE®
- TT: Product Type (note, 2 digits in Product Number as opposed to 1 digit in Lot Number)
- 01 – Nitric Acid
- 02 – Perchloric Acid
- 03 – Sulphuric Acid (Sulfuric Acid)
- 04 – Hydrochloric Acid
- 05 – Hydrofluoric Acid
- 06 – Acetic Acid (Acetic Acid, Glacial)
- 07 – Ammonia Solution (Ammonium Hydroxide)
- 08 – Hydrobromic Acid
- 09 – Water
- 17 – Hydrogen Peroxide (Hydrogen Peroxide Solution)
- NN: Number Sequence
- 01 – First version
- 02 – Second version
For example, S020101 refers to BASELINE® quality Nitric Acid.
2. Lot Number: Consists of the Product Grade, Product Type and date. For example, the Lot Number 1215010 is Nitric Acid, BASELINE® quality, the year 2015, the 1st month and the first lot for that month.
- Product Type
- 1 – Nitric Acid
- 2 – Perchloric Acid
- 3 – Sulphuric Acid (Sulfuric Acid)
- 4 – Hydrochloric Acid
- 5 – Hydrofluoric Acid
- 6 – Acetic Acid (Acetic Acid, Glacial)
- 7 – Ammonia Solution (Ammonium Hydroxide)
- 8 – Hydrobromic Acid
- 9 – Water
- 17 – Hydrogen Peroxide (Hydrogen Peroxide Solution)
- Product Grade (IQ or BA)
- 1 – Instrument Quality
- 2 – BASELINE®
- Year: YY – Numeric, 2 digit, i.e., 15 for 2015
- Month: MM – Numeric, 2 digit, i.e., 01 for January
- Version: N – Numeric, 1 digit, i.e., 0 for the first, 0, 1, 2, 3, …
3. Release Date: The date the Certificate of Analysis was generated.
4. Expiry Date: The date when the Certificate of Analysis expires. SEASTAR™ guarantees all of its product’s certified integrity for three years* if unopened and sealed if SEASTAR™’s Product Integrity Guidelines are followed.
* Nitric Acid in HDPE bottles is certified for two years.
PRECAUTION: Using Nitric Acid (Concentrated Nitric Acid, 68% w/w, available from SEASTAR™ as Instrument Quality or BASELINE®) as an example. Exposure to light or heat can cause Nitric Acid (HNO3) to break down to Nitrigen Dioxide (NO2 – a major component of smog), Nitrogen Dioxide forms an equilibrium with Dinitrogen Tetraoxide (N2O4). Proper storage and handling is critical when using these products, consult your Safety Data Sheet (SDS).
5. Assay: Refers to the concentration of the product and is expressed in terms of weight percent. BASELINE® Nitric Acid specifications ensure the customer will receive no less than 67% Nitric Acid (weight Nitric Acid/weight of the Solution x100%, w/w%) and no more than 70% Nitric Acid (w/w%).
6. Test: we have referred to non-instrumental or classical techniques as tests. For example, the Assay is determined by titrimetry or titration.
7. Analyte: the substance being measured. The principle technique for all the trace metals is Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS).
8. Maximum Specification: the maximum certified value of an analyte. BASELINE® Nitric Acid certifies or guarantees that Iron (Fe) will contain no more than 20 ppt (parts per trillion or 20 pg/g, 20pg of Fe within 1 g of solution).
9. Actual Value: the measured value in a particular lot analysis.
10. Unit(s): ppm – part per million or µg (microgram) of analyte per gram of solution, ppb – part per billion or ng (nanogram) of analyte per gram of solution, ppt – part per trillion or pg (picogram) of analyte per gram of solution.
11. Conditional Statement: Instrument Quality products are analyzed at the point of bottling, hence prior to storage in the packaging material (mainly glass or polyethylene bottles). BASELINE® products are analyzed in their packaging material (most products are packaged in specially manufactured Fluoropolymer Bottles, followed by extensive surface leaching. This results in very little change from stored product to packaged product). SEASTAR™ certifies the BASELINE® packaged product. Both products are guaranteed, the IQ statement mentions analytes affected by the packaging material. These analytes may rise above the certified value. If these analytes are critical in you application/analysis it is recommended to use the BASELINE® product for such analytes.
12. Grade: SEASTAR™ produces two main product lines, Instrument Quality and BASELINE®. Both products certify approximately 60 trace metals, the Instrument Quality product is used with most trace metal applications certified values of most analytes being 1ppb or 0.5ppb. The BASELINE® is for our most demanding customers or our premium grade. Most trace metals are below 100ppt with critical environmental metals certified in the 10 and 20ppt range.