MARKETS

Although experienced in multiple markets, ALSC focuses on three primary areas including: Oil & Gas and Petrochemical; Alternative Energy; and Food and Agriculture.

Oil & Gas and
Petrochemical

The Oil & Gas industry is expanding into new market focuses including green energy initiatives incorporating new feedstock sources for crude refining and petrochemical production. Many Oil & Gas corporations have goals of 25% feedstock from renewable sources within the next two years.

Traditional feedstocks from petroleum, natural gas and coal are well studied and regulated. There are ASTM, GPA, and ISO procedures for the entire production, analysis, and shipping processes. Not all refineries, however, are equipped to handle all forms of feedstock, with variations arising in heavy crude, light sweet crude, natural gas from fracking, and various coal sources. The procedures established within the industry provide the framework for handling the various sources, but the industry faces increasing regulations and requirements for new and/or more sensitive techniques for production and analysis of petroleum and petrochemical products. Many analysis methods adopted decades ago are being replaced by methods utilizing advanced instrumentation with lower detection limits and faster turn-around times.

Traditional Feedstock

ALSC can assist in:

Identifying new analysis techniques and methodologies to satisfy increasing regulatory and performance requirements.
Providing resources through our partnerships for evaluation of the new techniques and methodologies for subsequent adoption by standards bodies such as ASTM and GPA.
Preparing training protocols and SOPs for successful adoption of new techniques or methodologies.

Alternative Feedstock

Oil & gas refined products and petrochemicals produced via use of alternative feedstocks such as recycled plastics or biomass materials have similar established specifications and performance requirements as those obtained from traditional feedstock sources. However, the successful utilization of alternative feedstocks through new processing technologies can lead to unexpected production or quality results, which only increase with the complexity of the alternative feedstock itself. With our experience throughout various industries such as polymers and oil & gas, we visualize and understand the processes and variables that affect each stage from feedstock to refined products.

ALSC can provide:

Roadmap for investigation of new analytical techniques for identifying and measuring feedstock quality and any product impurities and/or performance issues.
Sourcing for needed resources - both short and long-term, to complete thorough feedstock analysis and process troubleshooting.
Evaluation of environmental issues that may accompany the storage and processing of large quantities of alternative sources such as waste plastics and tires and the effects on produced water, PFAS contamination and other contaminants.

Alternative Energy

There are many solutions today that fall into the "alternative energy" category such as solar and wind energy, both of which are rapidly expanding. ALSC has lab support and sales experience in these areas, but our primary focus involves alternative energy solutions from chemical recycling processes and biofuels production. Our offerings within these energy solutions involve laboratory efficiency and personnel support, new instrumentation and methodologies, navigating and understanding new standards and how they affect revenue and business opportunities, and business development and sales strategy planning for maximum market exposure.

Chemical Recycling

Plastics recycling via mechanical means has been the standard process for handling waste plastics. For instance, mechanical recycling of No. 1 plastic Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from a soda bottle into a recycled food container has become commonplace within the past decade. Traditionally these single-component plastics are mechanically broken down, the plastic is melted and then remolded to form another single-plastic product. But how do you handle plastics made from more than one type of resin, i.e., a mixed plastics product? Advances in chemical recycling, where the plastic product is mechanically processed into smaller pieces and then chemically broken down into the resin starting materials and even into molecular-level components, over the past decade is quickly advancing environmental solutions for waste plastic issues, leading to increases in both recycled packaging and alternative energy products. Many petroleum and chemical manufacturers have posed internal goals of up to 25% of their production feedstocks sourced from chemically recycled products.

The varied chemical recycling processes and their different plastic waste stream feedstocks, combined with the large number of alternative energy products made from chemically recycled feedstocks, has led to production and quality issues that need to be mitigated for full adoption of the chemical recycling process. Our experience in both the chemical resins and petroleum industries along with our skills in instrumentation and methodology gives ALSC a unique "big picture" view of the entire market and its current and potential laboratory needs.

ALSC can provide:

Evaluation of waste plastic feedstock quality control process and subsequent chemically recycled product variations.
Evaluation of chemically recycled product as an alternative energy feedstock and any performance variations in chemical or petroleum final product.
Identifying and sourcing additional analytical instrumentation, methodologies, and personnel resources needed to determine the cause(s) of any variations seen.

In the early 2000's, there existed a large market push for addition of biofuels to diesel products with the biofuel amount ranging from 5% (B5) to 15% (B15). Feedstocks included primarily tallow, sunflowers, and corn. However, the corn-based product was usually processed and sold as fuel-grade Ethanol produced to replace the petroleum product completely, but more commonly added to gasoline at 10-15%. The biofuels industry began moving to 100% biofuel (B100) as they worked to address final product performance issues such as pump corrosion. But the crash of the petroleum crude market and reduced corn crop production in the last 2000's led to many bankruptcies of biofuels companies and closure of production facilities. Ethanol addition continues to this day, although the push for straight ethanol fuel subsided.

Fast forward to the 2020's, and the push for biofuels production is stronger than ever. Going "green" is a goal for global governments and companies, including those companies commonly referred to as "big oil". The range of feedstocks is vast, and with that, the variations within the feedstocks themselves, and their effect on final product performance has led to an increased need for thorough understanding of how to mitigate any quality issues due to feedstock type and variability.

Biofuels

Allow ALSC to assist with:

Review and development of feedstock quality control processes including appropriate feedstock analyses, specifications, and tolerances.
Review and development of product processing analyses, focusing on quality controls to reduce final product performance variations.
Evaluate final product performance to further improve feedstock and processing analyses and specifications.

Food and
Agriculture

Advanced Laboratory Solutions Consulting offers diverse experience in the Food and Agriculture markets, similar to our expertise in Petroleum and Petrochemical industries with laboratory instrumentation and personnel management concerns. Each industry has specific quality standards bodies and testing protocols, and many corporations have divisions that expand all markets and actually overlay in many practical business concerns. For instance, companies operating in the corn industry may have a division concerned with genetic advancement in the corn product for improved human and animal nutritional value, while another division may take oil generated from the corn and process it to biomass products for consumer goods and/or fuel products.

Each division is responsible for sales to meet their business development goals and sales targets. ALSC can assist in generating the "big picture" view and navigating the laboratory instrumentation, personnel, methodologies and regulatory processes needed to advance our client's vision. In particular, we can assist with establishment of new or expanded laboratories and process standardization of laboratory operations. We discuss three Food and Agriculture focuses below as an overview of our consulting services and can generate tailored solutions in these or any other area within the Food and Agriculture market.

Hops and Beer

The popularity of the craft beer market has seen the establishment of thousands of micro-breweries offering their products, oftentimes made onsite, and many times with a restaurant attached. Clients who enjoy the craft beers like to purchase the product additionally from a visit to the restaurant. With thousands of breweries operating in the US, the analytical testing required to ensure quality and consistent product is provided to the consumer is important. Many microbreweries, as their name implies, are small operations with minimal or no capital for instrumentation and laboratory establishment and operation. But as they look to expand and provide consistent product, even a small brewery can have access to sales & business development consulting services, regulatory compliance roadmap preparation and implementation, routine laboratory sample testing, and advanced analytical troubleshooting services by working with ALSC and our partners.

Cannabis and Hemp

We are all aware of the varying state regulations allowing for medical marijuana (cannabis) and recreational marijuana, with some allowing both but many still considering any form of marijuana illegal. We also know the US Federal government still lists marijuana as an illegal substance, and employers that require drug testing will discipline employees and many times fire those who test positive for THC. An alternative to marijuana that is sweeping the country is CBD oils, popular for their healing effects, and not considered an illegal substance even in states with strict marijuana laws. Because cannabis is still federally banned as an illegal substance, there are no federally mandated standards for the quality of the product. This leads each individual state that allows any form of marijuana to develop their own standards including which cannabinoids to analyze for, which pesticides to monitor, and at what level, etc. There are standards bodies such as AOAC and ASTM that are developing accepted and standardized testing methods and detection limits, but without the Federal guidelines and mandates it is still questionable what these requirements will be if and when the government legalizes marijuana. Companies in the cannabis business are left to speculate what may be required in the future in order to be ahead of the curve and adopt those technologies and practices now. But this can be an expensive endeavor. Similar issues exist with CBD oils. There are cannabis experts with knowledge on the many cannabinoids, varying pesticide use in different states, and current testing methodologies. ALSC does not intend to compete with these experts, rather provide overview services to evaluate and minimize quality variations by ensuring laboratory instrumentation and personnel preparedness and practical business considerations such as potential failed drug tests are considered.

Recycled Packaging

Consumer demands for increased sustainability are leading corporations to include a higher percentage of recycled materials, with many moving to fully recycled food packaging. Concerns about feedstock variability including contamination from food, ink and/or glue used in the packaging labels, are being examined and mitigation procedures and protocols being evaluated. A key portion of the mitigation effort is advanced analytical testing for identification of unknown or persistent contaminants and any effects they have on final product quality. In collaboration with our partners, ALSC can offer targeted and non-targeted analysis with advanced analytical instrumentation to determine causes in feedstock variation, optimization of testing methodologies, and development of mitigation protocols for process operations.

New Laboratories

Whenever a company establishes a laboratory, whether for a start-up or an additional location for an existing company, there are many items such as laboratory flow/design, instrumentation purchasing and installation/validation, quality manual and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and personnel - both management and chemist/technician level - to be considered. Establishment and commissioning of the lab is rarely the primary focus of the company management, and the responsibility falls upon the engineering team, or perhaps a project manager or lab manager is already hired.

Let ALSC provide:

Consultation on laboratory workflow optimization and instrument selection and commissioning.
Assistance with preparing laboratory testing protocols, following standards testing methodologies for routine testing and development of alternative techniques/instrumentation for any research activities.
Roadmap for evaluation of quality improvements, including sourcing analytical capabilities for short-term support or long-term testing needs.

Quality control processes are vital to ensure proper laboratory operation and support. Any variation seen in product quality should be in the actual product, and not due to poor laboratory practices or unskilled personnel which lead to erroneous laboratory results. Standard methods are only part of the proper lab operation - SOPs for how to run the lab i.e., ensuring calibrations are completed, training of personnel is verified and documented, and out-of-spec process samples or final product analyses are reported promptly - are other critical pieces. ALSC brings decades of experience in quality control, standard methodology, SOP preparation and procedural maintenance to the table.

Process Standardization

ALSC can:

Coach laboratory management on developing laboratory procedures, training personnel and establishing quality checks for ensuring procedures are maintained - particularly for any research-based methodologies not currently guided by industry standards protocols.
Evaluate existing laboratory protocols and optimize workflow solutions.