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By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   To celebrate its 125th anniversary, ASTM International invited case study submissions from committee members to highlight standards that have made a significant impact in society. One of the winning entries is on a set of standards for biodegradable plastic from Committee D20 on Plastics. According to ASTM International’s article, standard test methods for determining the biobased content of solid, liquid, and gaseous samples using radiocarbon...

ASTM has announced that a new subcommittee will develop standards on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that are present in consumer products. ASTM describes PFAS as “a group of chemicals that are used to make fluoropolymer coatings and products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease and water.” The new subcommittee (F15.81) will operate under the jurisdiction of ASTM’s consumer products committee (F15). According to ASTM, the new subcommittee “will develop standards...

ASTM recently announced that it published a standard, E3275, that seeks to familiarize laboratory scientists with background information and technical content necessary to image and identify engineered nanomaterials in cellular and noncellular samples. According to ASTM, the standard is specific to the use of the darkfield microscopy/hyperspectral imaging analysis technique. ASTM states that in this technique, the resulting sample analysis allows for direct visualization and...

On June 25, 2020, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published a Nanotechnology Research Center (NTRC) Program Performance One-Pager (PPOP).  NTRC conducts research to understand the potential effects on human health of exposure to engineered nanomaterials (ENM) and develops methods to control or eliminate exposures.  According to the PPOP, NTRC’s accomplishments include conducting a survey to gather information about companies’ safety and...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A. The international standards organization, ASTM International, is seeking additional task group members to further develop the current terminology standard in industrial biotechnology (E3072-19). ASTM International develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services. Its sub-committee, E62.91 for Terminology in Industrial Biotechnology, is responsible for suggesting new...

By Lynn L. Bergeson ASTM International’s energizing fuels division recently passed an Alcohol To Jet (ATJ) ethanol based specification ballot measure that will allow jet fuel, produced from ethanol under the ATJ process, to be sold commercially on a global basis.  ASTM D7566 had previously permitted ethanol as a feedstock for Aviation Turbine Fuel with a maximum final fuel blend of 50 percent, but now permits a full replacement of the hydrocarbon fuel. This change opens...

ASTM Committee D20 on Plastics and CEN TC411 issued a call for presentation abstracts for the Workshop on Degradable, Biodegradable, and Biobased Products Standards.  The 2017 workshop is designed to facilitate a discussion on standards development and implementation regarding testing and specification of biobased, degradable, and biodegradable materials.   Topics for presentation and panel discussions include:   ?   Biobased/renewable resource content testing, specification,...

On September 1, 2016, the Safety Equipment Institute (SEI) announced that it was selected to manage the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Biobased Certification Program for the next five years. SEI is a subsidiary of ASTM International (ASTM), and has previously held the five-year contract with USDA to administer the USDA certification program that labels products as "biobased." This announcement comes on the heels of an update of ASTM's test method (D6866), that...

ASTM International's Committee on Plastics recently approved revisions to standard D6866, Test Methods for Determining the Biobased Content of Solid, Liquid, and Gaseous Samples Using Radiocarbon Analysis. This standard was originally approved in 2004, and is used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) BioPreferred® Program, by EPA when it is determining the sustainability of plastics, and by other corporations using biobased plastics. D6866 is used to determine the percent...

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will hold an October 8-9, 2008, workshop regarding enabling standards for nanomaterial characterization.  According to the workshop overview, there is an “urgent need” to elevate new protocols and practices for characterizing the physicochemical properties of nanomaterials, and their in vitro and in vivo properties with respect to biological systems, to that of internationally accepted standards to accelerate research,...