LEC changed technique of analysis of metals in spirits to capillary electrophoresis

May, 2019 – Cognac, France. LEC company, one of the leading spirit control companies in Cognac region, managed to switch from atomic absorption (AA) spectrometry to capillary electrophoresis (CE) to analyze metals in spirits using Capel-105M.

LEC found the CE systems from Lumex Instruments to be the most cost-effective, user-friendly and reliable solution to solve its analytical tasks in oenology compared to other methods. CE features that LEC considers vital for its work are accuracy and versatility. Although atomic absorption spectrometry is one of the most commonly used techniques for determination of metals in wines, starting at the end of 2018, LEC switched from this technique to capillary electrophoresis to quantify iron (II) and copper. Capel-105M has significant benefits over the AA spectrometer that was used by LEC before: simple sample preparation, fast and accurate analysis, and no need for a specific calibration before each session of analyses. Moreover, this change has decreased the maintenance cost for LEC since it reduced the number of instruments used for its analyses.

Photo courtesy of LEC

Capillary electrophoresis proved to be a powerful and reliable technique to analyze the diversity of wine and brandy compounds. CE system Capel provides a number of advantages for the analysis of wine and brandies, including short analysis times, low waste generation, very high level of accuracy and a diverse range of applications.

The LEC company purchased its first CE system Capel-105M in 2011 to determine a number of compounds in wine and spirits, like aromatic aldehydes in cognac and brandies and organic acids in wine materials. The analytical protocols developed by Lumex Instruments using CE have benefits over other commonly applied techniques such as titration or enzymatic method. One of the most significant of them is the ability to determine multiple compounds just in one run. LEC also determines organic acids, sugars (fructose, glucose, and sucrose) and inorganic cations in wine and spirits with CE method. Today LEC uses two CE systems of Capel-105M.

Founded in 1994, the LEC laboratory is internationally recognized for its analysis and technical expertise in the areas of barrel making and spirits. The company performs about 3 thousand analyses of wines and wine materials per year and has COFRAC accreditation.