HOW TO DETERMINE NPN AND NCN NITROGEN FRACTIONS IN MILK WITH VELP ELEMENTAL ANALYZERS

Dairying produces food products that form a regular part of many people’s diets, and in many parts of the world, it is a big business and major employer.  We are committed to advancing global dairy product safety and quality today, through lab testing efficiency for food and beverage manufacturers who care about tomorrow.

The milk composition is an imperative aspect that influences the quality and the value of dairy products. VELP has a strong track record of Milk and Dairy Nitrogen and protein determination and was asked to support one of the Italian dairy producers in the milk and dairy segment that had an analytical challenge. 

They needed a solution to analyze the Nitrogen fractions to ensure safety and regulatory compliance quickly, with high precision and reliability. 

In the search for the right Nitrogen analyzer, they needed to take into account two important elements:

• The Nitrogen content of milk represents only a very low percentage of the total and so the instrument needs to be precise and sensitive to detect even the lowest percentage.
• NPN values vary significantly with the method of sample preparation with TCA acid, so the choice of the method is an element to consider.

Furthermore, the presence of acids is usually a problem for many elemental analyzers in the market. 

VELP has always worked in close contact with its Customers to develop and evolve analytical solutions right for each need: we understand their challenges and we provide accurate solutions. VELP always use the almost 40 years of prior experience in this industry to easily and quickly solve the issue of its Customer.

The strengthening of a solid relationship is an indispensable element in the process of sharing a common path and that has led us to have achieved numerous successes in recent years. 

Based on the analytical challenge, the following drivers were identified working closely with users:

• Precision and reliability
• Excellent reproducibility
• High productivity and non-stop performances
• Attention to sample preparation and no memory effect

For all these requirements, VELP proposed the Dumas combustion method with NDA Series Dumas Nitrogen Analyzers.

With NDA Series it’s possible to determine the non-casein nitrogen (NCN) and non-protein nitrogen (NPN) necessary to calculate the nitrogen content in the single fraction of milk.

VELP choice of the Dumas method was based on the level of precision and reproducibility of this method compared to others. The NDA Series performs the quantitative analysis of nitrogen by combustion, and despite low sample weights, excellent reproducibility is achieved with a high level of precision and a simple application.

The VELP NDA 702 Dumas Nitrogen Analyzer ensures reliable results in an easy and fast way, in accordance with the expected values, with a low relative standard deviation (RSD < 1%), which means high repeatability of the results. Excellent reproducibility is achieved and the data confirm the complete combustion of the sample with no memory effect observed.

MAIN ADVANTAGES

• Rapid analysis in 3-4 minutes per sample
• Precision and reproducibility
• Low cost per analysis
• Fast set up of the instrument
• Intuitive Software user interface
• Safety
• Connectivity to VELP Ermes Cloud Platform for remote control