|
| Dec. 2008 |
At this moment new proficiency test (round robins) are being developed for lead in paint, flame retardants in plastics and composition of natural gas, liquefied propane and liquefied butane.
More information on these new rounds is available on request.
|
| Dec. 2008 |
The planned round robins iis09B01 on Pygas and iis09C01 on MDI have been cancelled.
Regretfully it was not possible to find a sufficient number of laboratories that were interested in participation in each of these rounds. And therefore it was decided to cancel both round robins.
|
| Nov. 2008 |
The currently running round robin iis08L03DGA on DGA analysis of transformer oil has been cancelled.
Regretfully it appeared that the quality of the samples may have been influenced negatively by the transport.
And therefore it was decided to cancel this round robin. As alternative it is proposed to organise a new interlaboratory study early 2009 using another type of syringes.
More information is available on request.
|
| Nov. 2008 |
The protocol used by iis for the organization of interlaboratory studies was recently updated. This new version (3.1) is available here. A hard copy is available on request.
|
| Nov. 2008 |
The quality of the determinations of metals and phthalates in plastics has been investigated. The results of this investigation has been published in the international journal 'Accreditation and Quality Assurance'.
|
| July 2008 |
Due to increasing fuel prices, the sample transport costs have equally increased over the last months.
For example: in July 2007, TNT charged us about 14% fuel surcharge. Today, July 2008, this surcharge is 26%!
And each month the courier firms revise the fuel surcharge.
Until this date we have absorbed these extra costs. But now we are forced to charge these extra costs to our customers.
All offered prices will be calculated on the basis of current transport rates, excluding fuel surcharge.
The actual costs will be calculated at the time of dispatch with the actual fuel surcharge at that time.
|
| June 2008 |
The new program for August 2008 - June 2009 is now available.
In the new program, on request of several participants some new products will be investigated:
Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate(MDI), Phenol and Methylmetacrylate (MMA). It was decided not to repeat the PTs on
Acetone, MPG, Isopropanol, Acetic Acid, MTBE/ETBE and Butylacrylate, but to postpone these to next year's program (2009/2010).
In the new program additional samples (spiked samples and/or samples for special analysis) are listed as separate rounds.
The necessary registration forms can be downloaded in pdf format here.
Alternatively one can register via the Electronic PT Registration Form present in our website.
|
| April 2008 |
The planned round robin iis08G04 on PPO (Pure Plant Oil) has been cancelled.
Regretfully it appeared not possible to find a sufficient number of laboratories that were interested in participation. And therefore it was decided to cancel this round robin.
|
| Feb. 2008 |
During the execution of the proficiency test iis07A05 on perspiration of heavy metals in textile, the
results for chromium as reported by the group in this proficiency test appeared to be divided bimodally.
Investigation after this phenomenae learned that various liquor ratios were used by the participating laboratories.
See here for more details.
Together with the final report of the PT, a questionnaire was sent to the participating laboratories.
They were asked for their opinion on the necessary action to be taken for the next PT.
In total 68 questionnaires were sent out.
After one month 20 completed questionnaires had been returned.
See this memo for an evaluation of the returned questionnaires.
|
| Jan. 2008 |
During the October 2007 round robin on gasoil (ultra low sulfur B5 diesel),
a candidate reference material for various determinations was tested by the participating laboratories.
The reported results from 137 laboratories were sufficient to certify
successfully the ultra low sulfur B5 diesel for the following determinations:
Cloud Point, Density, Monoaromatics, Sulfur, Water.
This reference material can be purchased via this website.
|
| Dec. 2007 |
The planned round robin iis08B01 on Pygas has been cancelled.
Regretfully it appeared not possible to find a sufficient number of laboratories that were interested in participation. And therefore it was decided to cancel this round robin.
|
| Dec. 2007 |
Due to problems with sample availability several round robins started not as planned. Therefore also the deadlines for reporting of those rounds were extended.
The deadline for reporting results for the Transformer Oil round was extended to January 4, 2008 and also the
deadlines for reporting results for the Crude Oil and Condensate rounds were extended to January 4, 2008.
|
| Nov. 2007 |
During the September 2007 round robin on Jet Fuel A1,
a candidate reference material for various Flash Point determinations was tested by the participating laboratories.
The reported results from 102 laboratories were sufficient to certify successfully the high purity n-decane for the Flash Point determinations by the following Standard Methods:
IP170 / ISO13736, ASTM D56 and ASTM 3828 / IP303, which is equivalent to IP523 / ISO 3679. This reference material can be purchased via this website.
|
| Oct. 2007 |
The results of the proficiency test on the determination of Chromium 6+ in plastics are remarkable.
For this PT, lead chromate was spiked to PVC to a Chromium level of approx. 40 mg/kg. Most laboratories were able to measure this using a total chromium determination (average total chromium content is 33.8 mg/kg).
But for the Chromium 6+ only very low test results were reported (average 1.3 mg/kg). Only one laboratory was able to report 28 mg/kg Chromium 6+.
This laboratory used THF to dissolve the PVC sample. See the report for more details.
|
| Sept. 2007 |
The increasing interest from the laboratory community in proficiency testing
has resulted in 101 participants in the current proficiency test for the determination of metals in plastics.
|
| August 2007 |
During the registrations of the new PT programme, it was noticed that two round IDs were incorrect. The ID for the gasoline round that will start
September 26 should be iis07B04 and not iis07B03 (which is the ID of the biogasoline round of may 2007). The ID for the metals in plastics round, that will start August 22, was iis07P02 on the paper form that was sent by post, while it was iis07P03 on the internet. It was decided to use iis07P03 as ID for this round.
|
| July 2007 |
The starting date of the round robin for gas condensate was changed from January 9, 2008 to October 31, 2007.
On request of some participants the scope of this new round robin was extended to:
Colour Saybolt, Density @ 15oC, distillation (D86), Mercury, Sulphur, Water and Vapour Pressure.
|
| July 2007 |
The determination of density in high viscosity fuel oil has been problematic during the iis round robins of November 2006 and February 2007, see the reports iis06F02 and iis07F01.
Very large spreads were observed and therefore an investigation for the cause of the problems was started. The
results of this investigation are now available, see the evaluation and the conclusions.
|
| June 2007 |
To anticipate on the growing market in the P.R. of China and to facilitate the services for
Chinese laboratories, iis opened an agency in Shenzhen, China.
The Chinese operations will be lead by Mrs. Lucy You, assisted by Ms. Melody Qi.
Several documents are already available in Chinese,
see here and here .
For more information, please contact:
请联系我们，欢迎咨询讨论：
联系人：齐乐(Melody Qi)；尤文献(Lucy You)
邮箱:
melody.qi@sgs.com;
lucy.you@sgs.com
电话：(+86)755-26390282, 26392411
传真：(+86)755-26390257
地址：深圳南山区妈湾大道8号亿升大厦一楼（518054 ）
|
| June 2007 |
The new program for August 2007 - June 2008 is now available.
In the new programme, on request of some participants several new products will be investigated:
Vinyl Acetate monomer (VAM), Condensate and Pure Plant Oil (PPO). A PT on Crude Oil Assay (D2892) will be organised in November 2007. It was decided not to repeat the PTs on
Polyols and Propylene oxide, but to postpone this to next year's programme (2008/2009). |
| May 2007 |
A participant pointed us to an unclearness in the final report iis07B02X for gasoline. The unclearness concerns the reported results for aromatics by GC and by FIA method.
As we agree that this issue was not treated very clear in the original report, a new report was issued.
The new -corrected- report can be downloaded here.
|
| April 2007 |
The reference materials Naphtha are no longer available. In 1999 iis did prepare two naphtha reference materials.
A light naphtha and a heavy naphtha material were certified.
In 2004 the lesser stability of the light naphtha forced us to stop sales of this material and
now again the stability of the heavy naphtha is the reason that also the remainder of heavy naphtha will be destroyed.
From the annual measurements of this material it became clear that the n-paraffine content is slowly decreasing, causing a small increase of the concentrations of the other components.
Until April 2007 these changes were still acceptable and well within the uncertainty ranges of the certified components.
|
| March 2007 |
The scope of accreditation of iis was updated and increased with four products and several dozens of tests.
The accreditation of iis (accreditation number R007, for all details see the RvA website) now also contains the organisation of PTs for acetone, acetic acid, toluene and transformer oil.
|
| Jan. 2007 |
In the last round robin report for styrene (see page 39 of the report iis06C08) a bimodal data set was observed for AMS (alpha- methylstyrene) in sample #658.
At the time of the finalisation of this report, no explanation was yet found for this fact. However, upon further investigation, a probably cause was found that may explain for the odd data set of AMS (alpha-methylstyrene) in sample #658.
See here for more details and the results of the investigations
and here for the example chromatogram..
|
| Dec. 2006 |
After having been postponed for several months due to the lack of interested laboratories, the proficiency test on Polyols will start on 28 December 2006.
As the reporting date is 2 February 2007, still registrations are accepted.
|
| Nov 2006 |
Unfortunately the planned proficiency test on the analyses of Polyether Polyols (iis06C13) had to be postponed with one month. At this moment the number of registered laboratories is still too low (7) to start this round robin. |
| Oct. 2006 |
As the number of laboratories that is participating in the interlaboratory program is constantly increasing, iis decided to attract a new employee. Ms. Wai Leung is being trained since the beginning of this month. She will start as assistant in the sample preparation and the preparation of the reports.
|
| Sept. 2006 |
Further investigations of the Bromine Number method by two participating laboratories
and the use of a new bump hunting method (recently described by M. Thompson, see the AMC website)
on the odd dataset for Bromine Number (see below August news item). provided additional
evidence that the majority of the reported results for Bromine Number were incorrect.
See for more details here.
|
| August 2006 |
The laboratory of Shell Rheinland Refinery pointed us to the presence of 130 ppm Styrene in the benzene sample #0627 that was used in the proficiency test iis06C05.
This amount of Styrene is not in agreement with the low Bromine index as reported in the final report of this PT.
Investigations revealed that the lowest reported results for Bromine Index are suspect and that the assigned value as mentioned in the final report is too low.
See for more details here.
|
| August 2006 |
A participant pointed us to an error in the final report iis06G02X for biodiesel 100%FAME. Therefore two pages of the report were corrected.
The corrected pages 27 and 28 can be downloaded here.
|
| July 2006 |
During the annual stability check of the reference materials it appeared that the light naphtha reference material is not valid anymore. Consequently this material no longer can be supplied. In spite of the precautions taken the amount of n-paraffines has decreased and the concentrations of all other components has increased accordingly. Obviously some light alkanes like propane and butane will have evaporated and escaped from the vials. In the past a similar effect has been observed with the degradation of the MTBE reference material after several years.
|
| June 2006 |
The new program for Sep. 2006 - June 2007 is now available. In the
new program on request of some participants several new products will be investigated:
Polyether polyols in 2006 and Propylene oxide in 2007.
The frequency of the Fuel oil round was increased to twice per year and the sample dispatch dates
of several other products was synchronised in order to allow combined sample dispatches and thus facilitate participation in those rounds. |
| April 2006 |
As accredited pt provider iis has evaluated the stability of the materials that are used in the proficiency tests.
All materials did proof to be stable and no significant
changes are expected during the execution of a regular proficiency test.
In april 2006 there has been additional proof of the stability of the packed materials.
See more about the stability results |
| March 2006 |
Obviously, the high quality of the iis samples is getting well known as iis was contacted by one of the major international petroleum companies that also runs a round robin scheme for most regular fuels.
A contract was signed and starting medio 2006, iis will prepare and despatch the samples for this external round robin scheme, using iis's accredited procedures.
|
| Feb. 2006 |
The effectivity of participation in a proficiency test is very much dependend on the follow-up.
This follow-up is the responsibility of the participating laboratory.
In order to assist the participating laboratories getting maximum efficiency, Rob Visser - manager of iis - wrote some guidelines
that were published in an article in the international journal 'Accreditation and Quality Assurance'.
|
| Nov 2005 |
Together with the final report of the PT on metals in plastics (iis05P03) a questionnaire was sent to the 66 participants.
On 30 November in total 12 participants had returned this questionnaire.
The answers of the participants show a very high satisfaction and high appreciation of the iis operations:
the only negative answers were given about the number of metals investigated.
See more about the results of this investigation here
|
| Oct. 2005 |
The Dutch accreditation board RvA did send an audit team to iis for the annual surveillance audit on October 7, 2005. Only three minor non conformities - that can be solved quite easily - were issued.
|
| Sept. 2005 |
The registrations for the new program show increased attention from the
laboratory community for independent quality control by proficiency testing.
In many rounds more laboratories will participate than before (for diesel > 150!) and already
38 laboratories registered for the new round on 5% biodiesel. See also
this overview of the growth of iis during the period 1994-2004. |
| Aug. 2005 |
An extra interlaboratory study will be organised on request of a participant.
It is a type of round robin that is organised only occasionally.
It concerns a Crude Oil Assay (a TBP distillation) and the subsequent determination of density and sulfur content of the collected fractions. All interested laboratories are welcome to participate.
On 29 August already 9 laboratories did register for this special round robin. |
| July 2005 |
The
opening page of the iis site now explains in six languages the services of iis
and that all communications have to be in English due to the large number of
participating nationalities (laboratories from 89 countries do participate
already). Also a search function was added to the functionalities. |
| June 2005 |
New
Proficiency testing program 2005-2006 available.
New in this year's program is the proficiency test on biodiesel (diesel
containing 5% FAME). This new round was introduced upon requests from
several participants. Due to the increase interest in bio-fuels also the scope of the existing proficiency testing programme for ethanol was enlarged with fuel-ethanol. |
| May 2005 |
To
facilitate reporting of results via e-mail, the necessary report forms are
available for download on this web site. See this section
for participants. |
| April 2005 |
After a silent period, the iis website was updated and several sections were changed. See for example
the FAQ page. |
| January 2005 |
The accreditation of iis has been renewed and is now valid until January 27, 2008. See
www.rva.nl for a copy of the accreditation R007 |
| Dec 2004 |
The Institute
for Interlaboratory Studies performed a small investigation on the status of
the availability of Measurement Uncertainties in ISO 17025 accredited
laboratories. The results of this investigation were remarkable. Even for
simple tests like pH or density measurement large differences were observed
between laboratories. Without doubt, the lack of a standard method for the
estimation of Measurement Uncertainties is the main cause.
See more about this investigation here |
| Nov 2004 |
Error in formula in
manual Mettler Toledo DE40/50/51. During the methanol round robin of
September 2004 abberant observations for Apparent Specific Gravity
measurements revealed the presence of an error in a formula in the manual of
some Mettler Toledo digital density meters. See
here for more details. |
| Oct 2004 |
At the request of many
participants Certificates of Participation (see downloadable example
certificate of participation) are
available as of October 1, 2004. Due to the costs involved in the
preparation and dispatch of the certificates, we are forced to charge a
small fee of 10 Euros for this additional service. Read more about this
service here. |
| Sep 2004 |
In
the original final report iis04A02 of the proficiency study on AZO dyes in
Textiles, unfortunately several errors occur: 4-chloro-o-toluidine was
present in stead of 5-chloro-o-toluidine as a consequence of an error
present in the well known textbook of Venkatraman. Also a reference to an
analytical method that can identify both o-toluidine isomers was found. On
September 7 we issued a correction to the final report that you can download
here: addendum report iis04A02_add.pdf |
| Aug 2004 |
Standard Method ASTM
D3338 updated D3338-00 Estimation of Net Heat of
Combustion of Aviation Fuels was updated to D3338-04 on Aug 9, 2004.
Unfortunately, there was no redline version nor a summary of changes in the
method. After review of the two methods, the changes are that D2887 was
added to the referenced documents and the summary of the method. A new
Section 6.3.1 was added which states that D2887 may be used as an
alternative to D86 for determining fuel volatility for use in this test. |
| July 2004 |
Ellen van der Burg is appointed as the
new technical co-ordinator of iis. She will be responsible for all sample
preparations. |
| June 2004 |
New
Proficiency testing program 2004-2005 available |
| May 2004 |
IIS moved from Dordrecht to a new location in Spijkenisse
(see contact details) |
|
| Sep
2002 |
Document
"Considerations for Various methods for density and specific
gravity" finished. |
| Jul
2002 |
New program available & New rounds
(Jet Fuel BOCLE, Acetone, Dichloromethane & EDC, Propylene exide,
Methoxy propanol acetate, Textile) planned |
| Feb 2002 |
Reference
material Gasoil GO-091296 sold out |
| Feb 2002 |
Co-operation
between PerkinElmer and I.I.S.
may result in a new proficiency test on Thermal Analysis starting in the mid of 2002. |
| July 2001 |
Participants
are positive about the new approach for the rubber/elastomers proficiency test by I.I.S. |
| July 2001 |
New
program available & and new rounds (transfatty acids, transformer oil, pygas,
sulphuric acid biodiesel and alpha-olefins) are planned |
| June 2001 |
New
proficiency tests on rubber/elastomers and olive oil are succesfull. |
| Mar 2001 |
I.I.S. growth continues: more than 850 participants in 60 countries
and 23 different rounds per year |
| Mar 2001 |
Co-operation between Unilever and I.I.S. results in new proficiency
test on Olive Oil starting March 2001 |
| Feb 2001 |
New proficiency tests on phthalates in PVC, tocopherols in edible
oils and metals in edible oils are succesfull |
| Jan 2001 |
Chinese National Laboratory Accreditations (CNLA) recognizes I.I.S.
as CNLA approved provider of proficiency testing schemes |
| Sept 2000 |
Rob G.
Visser becomes a member of the international advisory board of the journal of
Accreditation and Quality Assurance. |
| Jul 2000 |
New program available & New rounds (acetone, rubber,
Catalysts&Zeolites, Phtalates in PVC, Metals in edible oil) planned |
| Mar 2000 |
An European
database of Proficiency Testing (PT) Schemes |
| Feb 2000 |
Accreditation for I.I.S. |
| Jan 2000 |
New Low Sulphur Reference Material
for '2000' Gasoil available |
|
Set up for the proficiency test on trans-fatty acids |
| Sept'99 |
Co-operation between I.I.S. and Unilever results in
proficiency tests on foodstuffs |
| Sept'99 |
I.I.S. organises again a proficiency test for polytechnical
students |
| Jul'99 |
Electronic Registration Form |
| Jul'99 |
Electronic Reference Materials Ordering Form |
| Jul'99 |
New I.I.S.annual program for
proficiency testing (round robins, cross check programs) announced |
| Jul'99 |
Note on sample despatch costs |
| Apr'99 |
I.I.S. Reference Materials
announced in international journal |
| Febr'99 |
Quality benchmark organised for
producers of MEG |
| May'99 |
Students participate in an I.I.S. /
Shell proficiency test |
| Febr'99 |
I.I.S. contributes to the Eurachem document "Selection, use and interpretation of proficiency
testing (PT) schemes by laboratories" |
| Febr'99 |
New reference material MEG available |
| Dec'99 |
New reference material Naphtha available |
| Mar'99 |
New reference material Fuel Oil available |
| Feb'99 |
I.I.S. protocol for the organisation, statistics and
evaluation of interlaboratory studies |
| Dec'98 |
Publications in the journal for Quality, Comparability and
Reliability in Chemical Measurements |
| Dec'98 |
Specific Gravity Problems in Methanol |
| Dec'98 |
New Reference Material for Methanol available |
| Dec'98 |
New IMPCA Methanol Reference Specifications |
| Nov'98 |
A proficiency test to check density calculations |
| Okt'98 |
Proficiency testing recommended
by Eurolab, EAL and Eurachem |
| Sept'98 |
I.I.S. internet site opens on the world wide web |
| Sept'98 |
Definite set-up of PT "cadmium
in plastics" launched and mailing sent out |
| July'98 |
The new annual program of
I.I.S. Proficiency Tests is ready. Find here the new Round Robin Program for 1998 - 1999 |
| Apr'98 |
I.I.S. growth continues |
| Mar'98 |
Scope of I.I.S. broadened. A new
Proficiency test focusses on the detection and quantification of a number of prohibited
Azo dyes in textile. |
| Feb'98 |
New reference material Jet Fuel
available |
| Nov'97 |
A scientific paper on the analysis of trace metals in Condensates and Naphtha using ICP-MS. |
| Sept'97 |
Many laboratories prefer the PAAR digital density analyzer (ASTM D
4052) above the hydrometer (ASTM D1298) for measuring the relative density of petroleum
products. For fuel oil the difference between ASTM D1298
and D4052 results has high significance". This is the conclusion from 6 studies
performed by IIS on jet fuel, gasoil and fuel oil matrices. |
| June'97 |
Biased Results for DVPE with Grabner
VP. The bench top vapour pressure tester Grabner VP produces results with a bias
towards those obtained with the portable tester Grabner VPS. |
