Below is a list of scientific equipment at the IAST. In addition to laboratory equipment, the IAST has a number of demonstration pilot resources: glass blowing pilot plant; biodiesel pilot plant; tyre recycling; rubberized asphalt cement and hot mix asphalt pilot plant; wood-plastic composites pilot plant; briquetting pilot plant; steam extraction pilot plant; solar drying pilot unit; biogas pilot plant; food/feed pilot extruder, etc.
Please click on the lab or department names below to view the associated equipment.
Measures the amount of energy absorbed or released by a sample when it is heated or cooled
Generate information about:
Amorphous and crystalline behavior
Polymorph and eutectic transitions
Curing and degree of cure
Many other material properties used to design, manufacture, and test products.
Has many industrial applications from pharmaceuticals and polymers, to nanomaterials and food products
Measures the amount of weight change of a material, either as a function of increasing temperature, or isothermally as a function of time
Samples can be analyzed in the form of powder or small pieces so the interior sample temperature remains close to the measured gas temperature
Inorganic material, metals, polymers and plastics, ceramics, glasses, and composite materials can be analyzed
Can be used to determine evaporation rates, which is used to measure the volatile emissions of liquid mixtures
Helps to identify plastics and organic materials by measuring the temperature of bond scissions in inert atmospheres or of oxidation in air or oxygen
Measures the mechanical properties of materials as a function of time, temperature, and frequency
Operates over a wide temperature range (-150 to 600°C)
Provides multiple modes of deformation including dual/single cantilever and 3-point bending, tension, compression, and shear
The clamps are individually calibrated for data accuracy
Measures flow and deformation of materials under applied forces and varying viscosity and viscoelasticity depending upon the external conditions applied, such as stress, strain, timescale and temperature
Applicable to all materials:
From fluids such as dilute solutions of polymers and surfactants through to concentrated protein formulations, to semi-solids such as pastes and creams, to molten or solid polymers.
Measures texture and quantifies:
Hardness
Brittleness
Fracturability
Adhesiveness
Stiffness
Elasticity
Bloom Strength
Applicable for consumer products in:
Foods
Cosmetics
Pharmaceuticals
Chemicals
Measures the heat/energy created by a sample burned under an oxygen atmosphere in a closed vessel, which is surrounded by water, under controlled conditions
Measures the pH of a substance by its degree of acidity or alkalinity
Essentially calculates the electro-chemical potential between a known liquid inside the glass electrode (membrane) and an unknown liquid outside
It is a convenient measure of acidity / alkalinity of an aqueous solution at a specific temperature
Important for monitoring and controlling reactions, many of which only take place in a particular and sometimes narrow pH range
UV-Vis or UV/Vis refers to absorption spectroscopy or reflectance spectroscopy in the ultraviolet-visible spectral region
Used in analytical chemistry for the quantitative determination of different analytes, such as transition metal ions, highly conjugated organic compounds, and biological macromolecules
One of the best methods for determination of impurities in organic molecules
Useful in the structure elucidation of organic molecules, the presence or absence of unsaturation, the presence of hetero atoms
Measures the ability of a substance to conduct electric current
Conductivity measurements offer a rapid and non-destructive way to measure ion content in the sample
The measurement is made with an electronic sensor or meter in micro/milli-Siemens per centimeter or ppm
Conductivity is temperature sensitive and is typically standardized to 25°C
It is commonly used in hydroponics, aquaculture and freshwater systems to monitor the amount of nutrients, salts or impurities in the water
GC- Separation occurs as a result of unique equilibria established between the solutes and the stationary phase hence it separates the components of a mixture
This analytical method identifies different substances within a test sample by separating MS- Gas-phase ions according to mass/charge ratio and are sequentially detected hence it characterizes each of the components individually
Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) is a procedure for the quantitative determination of chemical elements using the absorption of optical radiation (light) by free atoms in the gaseous state
It measure how well a sample absorbs light at each wavelength
Provides quantitative determination of different analytes, such as transition metal ions, highly conjugated organic compounds and biological macromolecules
Serves to control exposure to toxic, offensive or flammable vapours, gases and aerosols
Exhausts hazardous gases, dusts, mists, and vapours from a confined location and helps protect workers from inhalation exposure
Performs flow injection analysis of available cyanide and total cyanide in drinking water samples as well as in wastewater samples
Applicable in mining and industrial operations
Measures masses to four decimal places to the right of the decimal point (up to .0001 g)
Gives high degree of precision and accuracy in quantitative Chemistry
Extremely sensitive
Precision Temperature Controlled Storage Device
Commonly used for applications such as B.O.D. determinations, plant and insect studies, fermentation studies, and bacterial culturing
Has the ability to heat and stir at specific set points
Use to scale up reflux reactions for the Coconut oil Production
Can do reactions under pressure – like hydrogenations, carbonylations, formylations etc by adding hydrogen gas, carbon monoxide or a mixture or H2 & CO gases
Can be use to hydrogenate coconut oil to make coconut margarine
Device that uses solar energy to dry substances, especially food
Recycled Rubber Facility and Rubberized Asphalt Cement Pilot Facility
The Tire De-beader has been specifically designed to remove steel beads from tires
The de-beader is a two part unit power by an electrical motor that rotates the tires and an air compressor that provide air to active the knife engagement cylinder and the spool life cylinder
A minimum of 120 psi air pressure is critical for effective operation of the de-beader. The capacity of the de-beader depends on the size of tire de-bead
The primary shredder consists a hopper and two counter rotating shafts power by two high power electrical motor that rotate on parallel axes, each shaft contains a series of cylindrical cutters
Cutting teeth are proportionally spaced around the circumference of each cylindrical cutter; the cylindrical cutters are spaced at proportional distances on the rotating shafts such that a cylindrical cutter on the first shaft rotates within a space between two identical cylindrical cutters on the second shaft
The size of the tire shreds produced in the primary shredding process can vary from 460mm to 100mm long and 230mm to 100mm wide
The granulator is a rugged, low profile, rotary cutting machine design to cut, chip and granulate the toughest materials with minimum horse power
It consists of a hopper bolted on top of the cutting chamber, the cutting chamber is a rectangular enclosure that carries the bed knives
The screen is supported below the rotor and act as a barrier to retain the material in the chamber until it achieves the particle size that will allow it to pass through the screen
The rotor is driven by a 100Hp electrical motor through belts
Transports materials automatically between stages
This blower utilizes impellers, which are typically flat plates with 4 – 10 blades arranged in a spoke pattern on one side, the flat plate mounts the impeller onto a shaft through a hub, or the point on the impeller from which the blades extend
The unit has a drive shaft, which is driven by a v-belt high speed electrical motor blowers
The unit is housed by a circular welded assembly that is constructed from heavy-gauge sheet metal
When the impeller rotates, air is sucked into the input at the center of the centrifugal blower and forced out at a perpendicular outlet into the plenum, which is the airway through which air is forced out of the centrifugal fan’s output
The cyclone separator comprises a frame part, a cylindrical mantle part, an inlet outlet flow duct
The frame part of the cyclone separator is conical at its bottom portion; at the bottom of the conical portion, there is an outlet opening, which is provided with a paddle device power by an electrical motor, through which the rubber material is removed
Air and rubber first flows in a spiral pattern, beginning at the top of the cyclone and ending at the bottom end, the air and fibers exiting the cyclone in a straight stream through the center of the cyclone and out the top; the rubber particles in the rotating stream have too much inertia to follow the tight curve of the stream and strike the outside wall, falling then to the bottom of the cyclone where they can be removed
This removes the ferrous metal (wire) from the rubber particles in free-flowing processing systems
The unit is self cleaning and consists of drum and housing normally of stainless steel
The drum of the separator is designed in such a way that only half of its side is magnetized and the other half is not
The rubber particles materials from the cyclone enter the top of the magnetic drum separator and flows across the surface of the drum, the rotating drum in the magnetic field captures the wire whereas rubber particles fall free from the drum into a chute, as the drum rotates, the wire captured is carried past the diverter and released outside of the magnetic field
This separator is made on a porous deck surface of fabric woven wire
Upon this surface, the rubber material to be separated is stratified by air discharge through the deck from an air supply system built into the machine base
The heavy rubber particles sink to the bottom of the fluidized material bed on the deck, the straight line vibrating motion, imparted on the deck by the eccentric drive carries the heavy particles away from the light particle which floats in the air stream
The deck is sloped in two direction so that the lightest particles float down towards the lower discharge corner, the heaviest particles are conveyed up the slope and forced off the deck at its upper point
This separator is a screening device designed to separate smaller particles from larger particles and to remove fibers
The separator consists of a screen, approximately 48 or 60 inches in diameter fited into a steel frame, the frames are attached to a spring supported table which contains the motor and eccentric weight system
The machine is driven by a motor designed to transmit vibration to the screen, this vibration causes smaller particles to drop through the screen while larger oversize particles pass off the top of the screen
Mixes asphalt and recycled rubber to form rubberized asphalt
INSTITUTE OF APPLIED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF GUYANA CAMPUS, TURKEYEN, GREATER GEORGETOWN, GUYANA TELEPHONE: (592) 222-4212-5, (592)-222-4218, (592)-222-5864 FAX: (592) 222-4229