A moisture balance, also called a moisture analyzer, measures the amount of moisture in a substance. This is particularly helpful in food processing lab consumables as the amount of moisture can be an indicator of freshness and quality for some foods. These analyzers are also commonly used in environmental, pharmaceutical, and materials science labs. There are several techniques that may be used to measure moisture. Some techniques used include measuring water vapor released following combustion of the sample, measuring the difference in weight after removal of moisture from the sample, and measuring the equilibrium of water vapor of the sample in a closed system. Some things to take into consideration when purchasing a moisture analytical balance include capacity, precision, speed, method of measurement, software, and whether the samples to be measured come in solid or liquid form.
Moisture analyzers, sometimes called “moisture balances”, are used to measure the moisture content in various types of samples including solids, liquids, and gases. Trace moisture in solids must be controlled for plastics, pharmaceuticals and heat treatment processes. Gas or liquid measurement applications include dry air, hydrocarbon processing, pure semiconductor gases, bulk pure gases, dielectric gases such as those in transformers and power plants, and natural gas pipeline transport.
Due to the slow pace of traditional and manual laboratory moisture testing methods, automated moisture analyzers have been developed and can reduce the time necessary for a test from hours to just a few minutes.
Moisture analyzers are utilized in different industries for many different purposes. They can be used in food industry to control the moisture. Excess amount of moisture in food may lead to staleness or bacterial growth. Furthermore, there are many food items which are sold by their weight; thus, it is important to make sure customers aren’t overpaying for water weight. On the other hand, too little moisture can reduce the calorie count or make the food dry. Moisture is an important factor affecting the consistency, taste, shelf appearance and many other factors in food.
Moisture analyzers, as industrial weighing scale, are also frequently used in quality control and other laboratories. Moisture analysis is used in many fields to determine the water content in crude oil, fuel, sewage sludge and many other chemicals, solids and liquids.
