In this module the student will be presented with a general overview of the principles of Instrumentation followed by an introduction to relevant chromatographic and spectroscopic methods. The instrumental methods and basic principles will be presented with particular applications to the Food, Beverage and Pharmaceutical area.
The module aims are:
*To provide a knowledge and understanding of the theory of analytical instrumentation in the context of food, beverage and pharmaceutical analysis.
*To introduce the student to the use of chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques along with experimental problem solving in chemical analysis of food, environmental, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical samples.
Lecture content
- Introduction to Instrumentation for analysis in the context of food, beverage and pharmaceuticals
- Principles of Chromatography: Mobile phase, Buffers, stationary phase, retention times, internal and external standards. Following an SOP, Method validation, Trouble shooting.
- Liquid-liquid Chromatography (HPLC, SCF)
- Gas-Liquid Chromatography
- Atomic Spectroscopy (AAS, AES, Graphite Furnace AAS, Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP)
- UV-Vis for qualitative and quantitative analysis.
- Infrared Spectroscopy FTIR, ATR-IR
- Polarimeters/ Circular Dichroism
Laboratory:
Three hour contextualised laboratories will be rotated around the following instruments:
UV/Vis, ATR-IR, HPLC, GC, AAS, Polarimeter
Examples are
- Experiment 1. UV-VIS: Analysis of a food colour additive by UV-VIS Spectrophotometer
- Experiment 2. Polarimeter: Analysis of the angle of rotation of different concentrations of sucrose
- Experiment 3A. FTIR: Infrared Analysis of Sustainable Packagaing
- Experiment 3B. FTIR: Infrared Analysis of Plastic samples from the Environment
- Experiment 4. HPLC: Analysis of Aspartame And Caffeine in Diet-Coke
- Experiment 5. Gas Chromatography (GC): Authenticity analysis of alcohols
- Experiment 6. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS): Analysis of Iron in iron supplement tablet/ Water sample
The student’s learning will be facilitated in this module by using the following strategies:
1) Class Lectures where the student will learn the basic concepts associated to the subject.
2) Laboratory practicals and lab tutorials where the student will familiarise with the application of the relevant instruments.
| Module Content & Assessment | |
|---|---|
| Assessment Breakdown | % |
| Formal Examination | 40 |
| Other Assessment(s) | 60 |