Research: Applied chemical analysis

Over the years, INCAT has built up a strong expertise in applied chemical analysis within different research domains.

• Lignin analysis

Characterization of technical lignins as well as depolymerized lignin mixtures via GPC, in-house developed 2D-LC, GC-MS, HPLC-UV/VIS…

• Adsorbent and Catalyst analysis

Characterization of both adsorbent materials and catalysts via a wide variety of techniques.

• The total and salt-splitting capacity of anion exchange resins are determined according to the ASTM standards.
• The metal content and leaching behavior of metal containing heterogeneous catalysts are characterized in collaboration with the LCA research group.
• Other catalyst and adsorbent characterization techniques, such as nitrogen sorption, FT-IR, are performed at the LCT (https://www.lct.ugent.be/) and optimized for each application.

• Analysis and Characterization of Natural Organic Matter (NOM) fractions in water resources

Currently, a HPSEC-UV-TOC method is being developed for NOM fraction analysis in collaboration with LCA.

• Liquid sample analysis to study kinetics and thermodynamics

A plethora of techniques for the analysis of liquid samples (both aimed at identification and quantification) are available, including among others GC-MS, GC-FID, HPLC-UV/VIS, density measurements, Karl Fischer titration.

• Service analysis: Evaluation of materials used around art objects in off-gassing tests via Oddy tests