History

GAS was established as the sole laboratory in the U.S. to specialize in gas analysis and the only commercial laboratory, at that time, to have a mass spectrometer. It also specialized in unusual, or difficult, problems. These came from a variety of different areas, e.g. industrial hygiene, air and water pollution, leak detection, pyrolysis studies, arson/explosion investigations, gases in hermetic devices, gases in metals and solids, radioactive gas analysis, identification and determination of unknown and trace contaminants in gases, and testing and certification of medical gas distribution systems.

Our mission was to build on the expertise of GAS, and to continue to provide customers with the highest level of service that any analytical laboratory could provide.

When its doors opened it had 1 Gas Chromatograph and 1 Mass Spectrometer, which were immediately put to good use.

During the first year, Dave Latter and Richard Frisch joined the team. DSCC “Suitability” was granted and has been maintained with uninterrupted approval, which sets Atlantic Analytical apart from the other ‘Suitable’ labs.

In the second year, a major gas supplier learnt of Atlantic Analytical’s existence and approached us to see if we could solve some of the larger technical problems with their products for the beverage industry. We were able to develop methods that were validated, and approved for the determination of carbon dioxide impurities and most of these methods were later adopted by the ISBT (International Society of Beverage Technology - www.bevtech.org) and, to this day, are contained in their guidelines for testing.

Other companies soon followed, including another major gas supplier that asked us to perform all of their high purity LIN, LOX, LAR testing. Our relatively small size, lower overheads, and increased flexibility allowed us to provide this supplier with quality work and excellent turn around times, at a fair price.

Expansion into other areas of testing came when we received a variety of requests from other companies, including natural and fuel gas suppliers. Additionally air analyses were taken on for environmental and compressed breathing air applications, and with the intense need to explore and promote the feasibility of using hydrogen in fuel cells, many of these companies also came to us for our expertise in hydrogen testing. Most recently, approaches from pharmaceutical companies asking us to help them solve their technical gas problems, has led us into the FDA compliance area.

We have been established for over 40 years, and have become a highly diverse company. Our success, and our customers’ successes, comes from our ability to listen and communicate effectively which enables us to fully understand and provide solutions to tough technical problems, quickly and efficiently.