Instruments

Mechanical refining at mid-consistency. Refiner includes several plate patterns.

Benchtop freeze dryer designed for lyophilizing light to moderate sample loads. Minimum temperature -150 °C. Model: FreeZone® 4.5L Benchtop Freeze Dryers, Labconco

 Material manufacturing and design

Pilot Scale - Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), Build dimensions: 1000 x 1000 x 700 mm

Measuring moisture content of biomass

Abrasion resistance

Suspending matter in air against gravity using acoustic radiation pressure from high intensity sound waves. Model: Tec5 100khz levitator with reflector and free jet nozzle

microprocessor-controlled ultramicrobalance capable of weighing samples to a resolution of 0.1 µg.

Liquid Chromatography (LC)

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GCMS)

R&D Steam Retort

Image processing and 3D modeling of TEM tomography, confocal, microCT, MRI, Dual beam/SEM and various other types of data

Asylum research JUPITER XR AFM. Compatible with liquid imaging and nanomechanical testing.

Paper sheet former that creates single to multilayered sheets using different pulp types (contains four separate stock chambers).

Two independently controlled precision syringe pump channels with programmable step-rate functionality, flow rates from .0001 µL/min to 170.5 mL/min and holds syringes between 0.5mL to 100mL. Model: Chemyx Fusion 4000

Pulp testing, determination fibre size distributions in 5 bins

Specific surface area measurement

Double beam UV-Vis  spectrophotometer for liquids and solids.

This procedure applies to the measurement of starch viscosity under various experimental conditions by Brabender Viscograph-E. NaCl is used to adjust the ionic strength

Encapsulation of additives, flavors, vitamins, proteins, probiotic bacteria, controlled release

CL-5 pelletization equipment (10 kg/hr)

Pulp testing, freeness evaluation using the Canadaian Standard method

Rheological and extrusion properties

Liquid Chromatography (LC), carbohydrate purification

Confocal/optical microscopy image processing and analysis, deconvolution of fluorescent images

Nikon Ti Eclipse Confocal Microscope. Optical imaging technique

Cooling suspensions up to -11 oC

Sputter coating with a wide choice of coating target materials for SEM

do basic voltage measurements

Dionex dual pump High Performance Anion Exchange Chromatography system with Pulsed Ampiometric Detection for carbohydrates

Quantatitaive analysis of glucose, xylose, mannose, arabinose and galactose

conduct proximate analysis and measuring volatile content of material / thermal characterization of biomass

Dynamic mechanical analysis

Mechanical properties

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measures the heat flow into or from a sample as it is heated, cooled or held under isothermal conditions.

Standard tumbler tester

Viscosity measurement

Viscoelastic characterization of polymers

Thermomechanical analysis

Tearing strength testing for plastic films, paper, other thin materials

Creating different environment for biomass storage

Transmission electron microscope: conventional TEM imaging, cryo-TEM, 3D electron tomography, correlative light and electron microscopy

Transmission electron microscope: conventional TEM imaging, negative staining electron microscopy

Plunge-freezing of aqueous (colloidal) suspensions for cryo-TEM imaging

Measures fiber length, width, curl, % numeric fines and kink in diluted pulp samples. Also provided fiber length distribution

Open source scientific image processing/analysis

Reduce moisture content of materials through the fluidization process. 

Molecular devices Spectramax Gemini EM (bottom & top reading)

Cary eclipse (Agilent), equiped with thermostatted cuvette holder for thermal melts

GE (Cytiva) Akta Pure 25 M1

Labcono capacity is 6 L

Freeze drying at below ‒50 °C at below 0.133 mBar

Solvent/water removal

Solvent/water removal

6 Lit Freez Dryer

Solid sample to test surface functional groups

Composition of sampled gases

Gas permeability

small molecule analysis

Liquid sample test to identify mostly organic compounds

Liquid sample test to identify mostly organic compounds

Gel permeation and size exclusion chromatography

Paper testing, porosity

flexible former with vacuum to simulate the actual papermaking process.

Papermaking, gravity draingage, 16cm diamter circular sheets, manual operation

Papermaking, gravity draingage, 16cm diamter circular sheets, partly automated operation, under repair

Wine free and total sulfur dioxide titrator

heating and drying oven

Pilot Scale - upto 1800°C

Transmission electron microscope: conventional TEM imaging, negative staining electron microscopy

Scanning electron microscope: variable pressure SEM imaging on non-coated samples, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis

Homogenizing, mixing

To create stable emsulsions, suspensions, etc

Apply high pressure to samples at high temperature

Barrier properties

Open source TEM tomography data reconstruction and basic modeling

multimode plate reader

TEM tomography data reconstruction

Fourier-transform infrared for compounds analysis

Malvern MicroCal PEAQ-ITC

Liquid sample test to measure water concentration

potentiostat/galvanostat/ZRA is designed for a wide range of applications designed to fit your needs. It is ideal for corrosion measurements, battery testing, sensor development, and physical electrochemistry. It is the perfect blend of performance and value

Nano Scale - Evaluate tensile properties, load cell 0.5-5 kg

Size reduction - grinder

Bench-top spectrophotometer to measure the colour of solid, pasty granular

Horizontal tensile strength testing for paper. Up to 200 N

Paper surface testing, exact thickness measurements

color spectrophotometer

Available to keep cells and tissue cultures for live-cell imaging

produce fine particles from 40 to 100μm

Targeted and untargeted metabolite profiling

Automated freeze substitution machine for cryo-fixed/chemically-fixed samples

Fully automated, capable of producing a homogenous metal or carbon coat for both TEM and SEM imaging, glow discharge for rendering TEM grids hydrophilic

Automated simultaneous labelling of up to 24 grids, capable of using up to 24 different primary antibodies in one run

Produces 45° glass knives from 6.4, 8 and 10 mm thick glass utilizing the balanced-break method

Cryo-fixation/immobilization of biological samples, 2100 bar of high pressure applied to the sample to suppress ice crystal formation and growth, capable of vitrification up to a thickness of 200 µm

Ultramicrotome: cryo-ultramicrotome for cutting frozen samples for the Tokuyasu technique for immunolabelling, and for high-pressure frozen samples for cryo-electron microscopy for vitreous sections. FC7 cryo-chamber maintains the temperatures as low as -160C

Ultramicrotome: cryo-ultramicrotome

Vibrating blade microtome, produces thick sections (> 5 um) of fixed or fresh tissue without freezing or embedding in resin for light microscopy

Particle size analyzer: Particle characterization from the nano- to the micrometer range

Mechanical refining at LC. Refiner includes several plate patterns. Refining loop includes a 260 L repulper and 4000 L tanks.

Dispersion characterization (size and stability)

Offers particle size, particle charge (zeta potential) and molecular weight analysis. Model: ZEN36000 ZS

Dispersion and powder sizing

Solid sample to test size

Modular Compact Rheometer: to measure the rheological properties of materials

Lab. Scale - Melt Extrusion/Blown Machine -  up to 6 kg/hour

Nonwoven production

Paper surface testing, smoothness/roughness measure

Microwave Moisture Analyzer

 Material manufacturing and particle generation

microfluidization, nano/micro-droplet production

Device used to physically interact with a sample under a microscope when high precision movement is required. Model: Eppendorf Micromanipulator 5171

Solid density of biomass (pycnometry)

Extrusion

Extrusion

Fibre fractionation. Several screen baskets included.

Universal Mechanical testing (Force -deformation charcaterization)

Bursting strength. Multi-directional tensile test to identify failure.

 Lab scale, high pressure microfluidizer for particle reduction applications

Belt type (30x100 cm) electrospinning device 

High Speed (3000rpm) electrospinning device 

Drum type (30x30 cm) electrospinning device 

Pilot scale (160 needle) electrospinning device 

Pilot Scale (Needleless) electrospinning device 

Bio-Rad Medium pressure chromatography system for protein purification

Light/fluorescence microscope: upright configuration wide field microscope, brightfield imaging with darkfield option, phase contrast/DIC imaging, widefield fluorescence microscopy, fully motorized stage ideal for image stitching and tiling, both color & high sensitivity black and white CCD cameras

Laser scanning/two-photon confocal microscope: 3D multi-color confocal imaging/optical sectioning, two-photon imaging of thick samples, FRAP, fluorescence spectra analysis

Stereomicroscope: dissections and viewing objects at low magnifications, brightfield/darkfield transmitted LED light, reflected light (objective-mounted fiber optic light source), high resolution color

Liquid handler

Liquid handler

LUMICKS C-Trap G2; dual-trap optical tweezers for force spectroscopy at single-molecule resolution

1L reactor that is resist to high temperature and pressure

Measuring heating value of the sample as part of chemical characterization of biomass

Particle Image Velocimetry. Flow visualization, laser-based imaging techniques.

Microwave technology facilitates the rapid sample processing from fixation to resin infiltration

Spinning disk confocal microscope: high-speed multi-color image acquisition with spinning disk, 6 laser lines and high-sensitivity EMCCD camera

Beating of chemical/mechanical pulps for defibrillation. Small quantities ~ 25 grams

high speed video camera capable of recording at several hundred thousand frames per second

surface cleaning/modification

Open air cold plasma treatment system

 Polarized optical analysis

Probe homogenizer equipped with probe for larger sample volumes (up to 1000 mL), and microtip for small samples. Model: Branson Sonifier SFX550

Pulp testing, measurement of shives content

British Standard repulper, 1.2% consistency, 2L

monitor small mass changes on the surface of a coated quartz crystal.

Surface analysis (binding events, thin film formation, layer properties)

Reactor with in-situ FTIR

Model: RC-5 Sorvall F-16/250

Ultramicrotome: standard ultramicrotome

Repulper, upto 5% consistency, 10L

Rheological properties, high pressure cell

Rheological properties, UV, Polarized microscopy

Rheological properties

Rheological behavior analysis

Pulp tesing, drainage evaluation

Injection molding

Injection molding

Fiber spinning

Fiber spinning

Tumbler tester developed at BBRG for single pellets

provides illumination approximating natural sunlight to test of solar cells, sun screen, plastics, and other materials and devices.

UV-Vis and fluorescence measurements (microtiter plate)

Pellet production line 200 kg/h

Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy

Laurel Technologies create uniform thin coatings

Micro/nanoparticle generation

0.7 cu ft in size, operates at atmospheric pressure, or at a vacuum up to 30'' Hg. Temperature range of 35 - 220 °C Model: Cole-Parmer Stable Temp

Real-time label-free surface sensitive technique that measures molecular interactions as well as structural changes and layer properties. Model: SPR Navi 200

Bath sonicator, Model: 97043-940 (VWR)

Evaluate tensile properties, Load Resolution 50nN (5.1μgm), Maximum Load 500mN (50.8gm)

Texture analyzer

Reactivity of biomass under different temperature and humidity conditions.

High temperature tar removal unit

Thermal Conductivity Instrument for foams and films

Paper surface testing, optical properties of Brightness, Opacity, Whitness etc.

Programmed weight loss analysis

Thermogravimetric Analyzer (Monitor the mass of a substance as temperature changes)

Moisture and ash content measurement

Store biomass in higher than ambient temperatures and analyze their gas emission.

Thermal stability analysis

Surface/interface tension and contact angle measurements

Provides compressive strength for a variety of materials

Fully automated, capable of processing small and large samples (up to 11.5 cm diameter)

Lab. Scale - upto 1000°C

1100°C Tube Furnaces, which benefits from design elements such as double-shell construction and variable density insulation to enhance performance.

Catalyst synthesis; Sample preparation

Generation of emulsions, (micro)droplets, and particles (single cell/cell sorting experiments)

Generation of emulsions, (micro)droplets, and particles (single cell/cell sorting experiments)

low viscosity liquid treatment in a continues mode, surface treatment

The FT174X is a modular HTST/UHT processing system designed to treat products at flow rates of 10-40 l/hr or up to 60 l/hr for water (or similar low viscosity products).

extrusion 3D printer

Mixing and homogenization

Use to clean sample surface before using QCM-d.

UV-Vis analysis

Measuring light absorbance across the ultraviolet and visible ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum

Lab. Scale - upto 280°C

Beating of chemical/mechanical pulps for defibrillation, under repair

Detector for small angle xray diffraction (XRD)

Paper testing, vertical tensile measurement

Microwave Vacuum Drying system

Confocal/optical microscopy image processing and analysis

Water vapor transmission

Micro-CT (3D imaging)

Advanced visualization and imaging using x-ray. Diversity on sample testing (paper, foams, minerals, biological samples, etc).

Paper testing, zero span tensile tester