Leader in sustainable potato protein production boosts production volumes while improving efficiency and safety of protein determination methods

This customer case study details how a German subsidiary of an international cooperative of potato growers looked to expand production capacity and enhance sustainability. As part of its ongoing efforts to this end, the company worked toward improving the efficiency and safety of its processes. A critical challenge was the protein content determination in their potato crop, which relied on the well-established Kjeldahl method, commonly used for nitrogen quantification in organic substances during various stages of protein determination and quality assessment.

After evaluating efficiency in its laboratory, the company discovered that the lab had reached its capacity limit using the Kjeldahl method. The goals of increasing throughput and performing analysis for the variety of samples required could not be met without making changes. As such, the company made the decision to replace its analysis with the faster and safer Dumas method that could handle a wide variety of samples and eliminate this bottleneck.

Building on a longstanding partnership, the company turned to Elementar, a renowned analytical instruments provider. The company invested in the rapid MAX N exceed nitrogen and protein analyzer for its plant. The company uses the rapid MAX N exceed to perform a range of critical tasks from inspection and monitoring of variety-specific differences in incoming crop protein content to outgoing goods control.

The N/protein analyzer offers the company precise measurement results in protein determination, repeatedly confirmed by the measurement with the standards L-tryptophan and L-glutamic acid, and in ring tests with their parent company. Additionally, the lab employees benefit from the short analysis time, the significantly lower effort for protein determination and a decreased reliance on potentially unsafe chemicals.

Download the full customer case study and read more about how Elementar helped this market leader in sustainable potato protein production reach its goal of achieving faster and safer potato protein content determination.