Q2 2009 / Pittcon 2009

New products and technologies, educational opportunities, and face-to-face scientific interactions highlighted this year’s conference and exposition.

Pittcon 2009 reported 19,018 attendees from 90 countries participated in this year’s annual Conference and Exposition, held in Chicago, Illinois, from March 8 to March 13. The event was marked by a 6% increase in conferees over 2008.

Pittcon 2009 President Ed Ladner commented, “Overall, we are extremely pleased that this year’s growth in conferee attendance exceeded expectations, particularly during a time when there is so much economic uncertainty. The strong attendance is testimony to the value that Pittcon brings to the global scientific community.” 

The Exposition included 1,006 exhibiting companies, occupying 2,249 booths, who showcased the latest laboratory instrumentation, equipment and services across a broad range of products and technologies, including separation sciences, mass spectrometry, spectroscopy, nanotechnology, laboratory automation and informatics. 

More than 130 companies exhibited at Pittcon for the first time. The Exposition also featured a new area called the Green Corner where 10 companies displayed products and services for green chemistry solutions, resource conservation and laboratory pollution prevention techniques.

The comprehensive Technical Program included more than 2,200 technical presentations distributed among Invited Symposia, Organized Contributed Sessions, Achievement Awards, Workshops, and Poster presentations. More than 100 invited speakers addressed topics of global interest, including alternative and sustainable energy, food and drug safety, environmental issues, new materials development, and bioanalytical techniques. Dr. George M. Whitesides, the Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor at Harvard University Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, delivered the plenary lecture to a near capacity crowd of 1,000 attendees.

More than 1,500 Conferees also took advantage of the educational opportunities afforded by the Pittcon Short Course program, which offered 100 courses in 60 topics areas.

Networking opportunities were abundant in addition to the ongoing informal interactions during the Conference and Exposition week.

This year’s program included 35 networking sessions on a variety of topics and was attended by 430 participants. 

Show trends

What stood out the most was that there were more conferees attending the show than personnel manning the exhibitor’s booths. This trend began in 2006. This year saw an increase in conferees of 6% over last year demonstrating that despite the poor economy, more people want to find out what is new and how improve productivity. The chart on the previos page shows the trend in attendance over the last few years.

Specialty gas presentations

Of particular interest to the specialty gas market was the Specialty Gas Analysis Session which included a paper by Consolidated Science (CONSCI) on “Calibration Methods for Problematic Gases,” which outlined new methods for seeing difficult impurities down to the part per billion (ppb) and some to part per trillion (ppt) levels.

MKS did a presention on the analysis of Hydrogen for fuel cell applications. Matheson offered two papers relating to the analysis of water vapor at the 100 ppb, and another on the analysis of moisture in Hydrogen Fluoride.

CIC Photonics did a session on self-optimizing Specialty Gas Calibration error; and Picarro, Inc. offered a paper on ultratrace impurity measurements in optically-absorbing Specialty Gases.

In other sessions, Airgas offered a paper on safety requirements when using hydrogen as a carrier. Baseline-MOCON offered one on how to determine total sulfur in Carbon Dioxide, DCG Partnership gave one on alternative options for columns and Air Liquide offered an evaluation of alternative carrier gases. VICI Valco presented a technique for trace moisture in bulk gases. All in all, the conference was of extreme value to those participating in the Specialty Gas arena.

Also, in conjunction with Pittcon 2009, the Gas Metrology Group of NIST held a “Calibration Gas Meeting” at the Hyatt led by Frank Guenther, Bill Dorko, Mike Kelly and Lyn Gameson. The topics for discussion included the status of the gas mixture SRM program, a new SRM Re-Certification method, status of the gas mixture NTRM program, proposed changes to the NTRM document, an EPA protocol gas verification program and recent NIST activities with regard to NH₃ and SO₂.

Rob Wessel of NMI of the Netherlands commented on their recent activities in conjunction with some discussion of the international activities of the NIST itself. Part of the session dealt with the new levels of impurity detection that will be required to support the “Green” movement.