A moisture analyser, also known as a moisture balance or dry matter balance, is essentially a precision balance with a heating element above it. The instrument weighs your sample, dries it and keeps weighing; the weight loss is the moisture content. That gives you a result within a few minutes, where the classic drying oven method takes hours or a whole night. We supply the OHAUS MB series, among others.
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Moisture analysers: moisture content in minutes instead of hours
What it is used for
In many processes, moisture content directly determines quality and cost price. In the food industry for dough, cheese, meat, powders and snacks; in plastics processing for drying granules before they go into the extruder, because material that is too damp weakens the end product; in agriculture for grain, seeds and animal feed; and in the paper, chemical and recycling sectors. It also matters when trading bulk goods: if you pay on wet weight, you are paying for water.
What to look out for when choosing
Heating. Halogen and infrared heat up faster and control more accurately than a classic heating element, which matters especially for materials that burn quickly or form a crust. Weighing resolution. With a five-gram sample, a readability of 1 mg is the difference between a meaningful and a useless measurement; so do not just look at the capacity but at the division. Switch-off criterion. A good instrument stops automatically as soon as the weight remains stable, instead of after a fixed time; that saves time and prevents you from overheating thermally degradable material. Programs. If you can store a separate drying temperature, ramp profile and criterion for each product, every operator can reproduce the same measurement.
Making results comparable with your reference method
A moisture analyser does not measure the same way as a drying oven: it dries faster and at a different temperature, so it does not automatically give the same result. If you want to be able to compare the values with a standard or a laboratory result, you need to match the drying program to your reference method once and record it. We can help with that. Also make sure sample preparation is consistent: the same quantity, spread evenly over the pan, and coarse material ground or cut first. A sample heaped up in the middle dries on the outside and not on the inside. How to set up such a method, from sample and layer thickness to temperature and stop criterion, is explained in how a moisture analyser works.
Calibration and service on site
A moisture analyser has two things that can drift: the load cell and the temperature. Calibrating the balance alone is therefore not enough; the temperature control should also be checked periodically with a suitable calibration kit, especially if you work under a quality system and your measured values must be demonstrably correct. Our engineers provide calibration, maintenance and repair in your own production facility or laboratory, and commission a new instrument on site, including setting up your drying programs.
Related categories
For weighing samples alongside the moisture analyser, take a look at the laboratory balances and analytical balances. For checking the load cell in your moisture analyser, Weighing Experts supplies check weights in the right class.
What you can choose from
The range runs from 50 g to 200 g. The finest readability is 0.1 mg. Which one you need depends on the smallest weight you still want to see: a moisture analyser that goes up to 200 g reads more coarsely than one that stops at 50 g.
Which brands
Here we carry Kern, Adam, Ohaus and Baxtran. These are brands we are a dealer for, and we are authorised by the manufacturer to repair and recalibrate their moisture analysers.
Maintenance, calibration and repair
We calibrate a moisture analyser with a certificate, for ISO 9001, GMP or your own quality records; delicate work we prefer to do in our workshop, where the conditions are controlled. See moisture analyser calibration with a certificate and repair with original parts. The full overview is under scale service.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate does a moisture analyser need to be?
That depends on the moisture content you want to determine and on the size of the sample. With a low moisture content, the readability of the balance matters more than the capacity.
Can you also maintain a moisture analyser?
Yes. We repair and calibrate moisture analysers and supply a calibration certificate with them.