Boulder, Colorado, USA 20 March 2007 —Analytical Spectral Devices, Inc. (ASD), has signed a strategic alliance agreement with Paprican, one of the world's leading research institutes, to develop the pulp and paper industry's first application of near-infrared (NIR) technology to measure pulp brightness and lignin content. The new analyzers promise to optimize lab and industrial measurements of these parameters leading to better control of the manufacturing process with reduced costs and better environmental performance.

The ASD NIR spectrometer measures pulp brightness and kappa number — a measure of lignin, the material that bonds wood together and which must be chemically removed to make bleached paper products.

"We are constantly looking for opportunities to make our member companies more competitive with the development of innovative new technologies," said Chris Kanters, Paprican's director of contracts, patents, and licensing. "Our goal, in this case is to simplify an expensive, labor-intensive, chemical testing procedure with ASD's NIR technology. The benefit of this technology is improved productivity, speed of measurement, and accuracy, giving our member manufacturing companies a competitive edge in today's expanding global market."

ASD's system will allow for fast, precise, and noninvasive measurement of lignin content in pulp. This new method replaces the need for chemical techniques that use expensive chemicals to determine lignin content and that are often prone to operator error. The new method eliminates chemical and processing costs. The strategic alliance between Paprican and ASD will lead to both bench-top and online versions of the Kappa and brightness analyzer.

"Though in beta stage right now, the commercial applications we are developing with Paprican represent the evolution of quality standards in the pulp and paper industry," said Michael Lands, ASD director of business development, "This technology has the potential to introduce optimization and control improvements that positively impact the industry."