Making the invisible visible

Would you believe that the technology of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR spectroscopy) can help to efficiently recycle plastic, support farmers growing human food and animal feed and even make the life of coffee roasters easier? Take a look at the selected applications fields below. 

Brewing the best coffee

Do you enjoy a cup of fragrant and hot coffee in the morning? Well, who doesn't? But what actually makes a great coffee? Many factors influence the roasting result and contribute to the coffee experience, such as variety, cultivation area, quality class, storage, transport and numerous processing steps. With our latest innovation, we support coffee roasters to better monitor and control the purchasing and refining process of coffee beans - thereby, the caffeine and moisture levels of coffee beans are particularly interesting.

Small coffee roasters often struggle to determine the respective content of their creations as they cannot use laboratory capacities. With our NIR spectrometer, they have the perfect tool in their own hands: it measures the residual moisture quickly and easily so that the roasting profile can be adjusted accordingly. The roaster is able to fine-tune coffee compositions towards different taste profiles and reproduce the preferred profiles without any deviations.  

But the use of the spectrometer is not limited to the roasting process. It also helps to document and track the moisture of the beans during harvest, transport, and storage, reducing the mold risks and increasing quality.

This all happens in real-time. The measurement data of the spectrometer is evaluated in the cloud by intelligent algorithms and displayed within seconds in the app on a smartphone or tablet. This allows for a maximum of flexibility, reliability, cost-effectiveness and, most importantly, taste! 

Plastic sorting made easy and sustainable

With trinamiX mobile NIR Spectroscopy Solutions, recycling and recyclability are improved, paying off for both the environment and businesses alike. As a valuable material, plastics have to be properly sorted in order to be recycled. Given the multiple types of plastics, this process can be difficult and expensive. This is where the power of spectroscopy comes in: all common types of plastics can now be easily identified within seconds – this is true for commonly used materials for example for beverage bottles but also for technical plastics, whose distinction is particularly important for the recycling companies. 

The device is slightly larger than a mobile phone and can precisely determine the diverse compositions of different plastics. The solution is comprised of the portable spectrometer, the data analysis capabilities in the cloud and an app to display the results and recommend actions: the user directly receives the name of the identified material in the app, measurement results are displayed on mobile devices or on the customer’s PC. This enables both, rapid ad-hoc analyses as well as further evaluations and downloads.

The device is especially interesting for companies that do not need a large, stationary sorting plant, but a flexible and mobile solution. Examples include recycling yards and plants as well as manufacturers of recycled goods. The solution is also interesting for decommissioning companies and large dealers. This opens up great opportunities as the valuable plastic waste can be classified and collected separately right where it is generated, which reduces transportation costs to central sorting plants and reduces CO₂ emissions.

Digital support for farmers

Digitalization has arrived on the fields of farmers all around the globe. With the mobile NIR spectrometer, we provide a useful tool to make the life of farmers easier: By scanning crops or soil, farmers can best determine different parameters about the analyzed sample; e.g. protein, oil, sugar, starch and moisture. They receive on-field support in real time with information and answers to safeguard and increase their yields, mitigate risk, maintain soil quality and optimize their farm’s profitability. Our online cloud-based analyses will help them to decide directly what their crops need and the best time for harvest based on individual customer requirements.

Keeping CO₂ monitored

Using a near-infrared detector from trinamiX, CO2 can now be quickly and accurately measured both in medical breath gas analysis (capnography) and mobile air quality monitoring.

CO2 concentration is an important indicator of indoor air quality. Wouldn’t it be great to have the opportunity to have CO2 sensors in smartphones and wearables for on‐the‐spot control of environmental conditions? While air conditioning and ventilation systems typically use pyroelectric detectors or thermopiles in CO2 sensors to monitor indoor air quality and prove to be quite impractical due to size and high energy consumption, a device with trinamiX detectors can become 8 times smaller than currently available systems. Of course, without compromising on accuracy and even reducing power consumption by a factor of 16. Thus, smartphones and wearables can now be equipped with real time CO2 monitoring to track air quality at home, in the office or while travelling.

CO2 is also from a medical point of view an important indicator: Breath gas analysis (capnography) is the monitoring of the respiratory pattern via the concentration measurement of CO2. It is used as a vital monitoring tool in intensive care units. For exact and timely measurements, both a fast measurement rate and a high sensitivity of the infrared detector in the system are must‐have requirements. With our solution, it is possible to design capnography systems significantly smaller, faster and more reliable.

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