A ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the successful installation of the Claisse® rFusion system for Albemarle Corporation was held on 2 May 2018 in Bayport, Texas, US.

This event celebrated the achievement of a major project that will provide customers with efficiencies and higher levels of productivity.

The ceremony marked the successful culmination of months of effort and strong collaboration among different experts at Malvern Panalytical. These experts worked together to smoothly integrate the rFusion system, SamTracs software, and two Axios X-ray fluorescence (XRF) systems to optimise the customer’s global analytical process.

When asked to give his opinion regarding the entire project and installation of the rFusion, director of analytical research and quality at Albemarle Jeff Mason said: “I’m proud of the installation and, more importantly, the benefits it will bring to our customers. I would do it again.”

General manager of the Québec supply centre Christian Marcoux explains: “The Bayport laboratory serves many departments within Albemarle and processes many types of samples. We were able to develop a versatile solution that can fulfil all their needs, and I’m very happy about that.”

With the global solution provided by Malvern Panalytical experts, productivity and capacity in the Bayport laboratory increase without adding any additional workforce or operating costs, with a less-than-three-year payback period. The SamTracs software optimises the flow of samples to each XRF system with the priority indicated for better efficiency. Accuracy from consistent sample preparation and improved safety for workers are additional benefits as to why Albemarle decided to buy the rFusion.

Albemarle is a global speciality chemicals company with leading positions in lithium, bromine, and refining catalysts. The Bayport facility supports a throughput of well over 100 XRF samples per day, in a 24/7 operation. Its Claisse rFusion system was installed at the end of 2017 and has been working since with good acceptance by the lab technician and supervisory team.

About the rFusion

The Claisse rFusion doses, mixes and fuses samples to prepare a homogeneous sample free of mineralogical effects for XRF analysis. This automated station provides customers with a great return on investment (ROI) by maximising productivity, improving analytical results and having a flexible workflow able to accommodate high priority samples and even liquid samples requiring XRF analysis.

Besides catalyst production, other industries such as mining and metals have benefited from the rFusion automation technology.