MINIDIS – The New Standard for Small Scale Distillation

The ASTM Committee recently approved a new Mini-method for the Distillation of Petroleum Products at Atmospheric Pressure. The mini-distillation analyser MINIDIS from Grabner Instruments performs exclusively according to the new standard ASTM D7344-07.
The new standard covers the testing of a wide range of petroleum products, including low sulfur diesel fuels, aviation, marine and gasolines, petroleum spirits, naphthas and kerosines. ASTM D7344 was specifically developed for small specimen sample volume and a miniaturised apparatus.
Instruments following the D7344 principle, like Grabner Instruments´ MINIDIS, are ideal for testing “on the move”: Installed in a Mobile Lab or attached to tank vehicles.
Though designed as a Mini-D86, MINIDIS offers various advantages over “classical” D86-units: E.g. it works with just 6 ml of sample, thus reducing sample volume 15-fold. Due to the small sample volume the distillation takes just half the time. Whereas distillation according to the D86 principle takes 40 minutes, MINIDIS allows for distillation times of 15 minutes or less (Group 1 distillation).
The D7344 principle works with small sealed cups and a metallic distillation column.MINIDIS therefore doesn´t need a fire detection system, like common D 86 instruments: Non-breakable copper cups replace the fragile D86-glassware.
With automatic sample introduction, a pre-programmed rinsing cycle and the use of disposable copper sample cups there is no need for any test preparation and tedious cleaning of glass parts. Due to its size, the rugged housing and the optional 12V vehicle battery operation, MINIDIS is truly portable and the ideal solution for all kinds of applications where you need to get fast and precise results on site.