DOHA: Oryx gas to liquids (GTL) yesterday announced that it has received Laboratory accreditation (ISO 17025) for its plant lab at Ras Laffan by the Dutch Accreditation Council.
The Chief Executive of the Dutch Accreditation Council, RvA - Raad voor Accreditatie, awarded the accreditation to Oryx GTL for the successfully demonstrated competence of testing in compliance to the requirements of the international standard ISO/IEC 17025:2005.
Oryx GTL Laboratory is now listed in the RvA website with the registration RvA L525 and is one of the 229 testing Laboratories in the world permitted to use the RvA accreditation mark. In Qatar there are only three testing Laboratories that are ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited, Oryx GTL is one of them.
Laboratory Accreditation is defined as a procedure by which an authoritative body such as the Dutch Accreditation Council, RvA - Raad voor Accreditatie, gives formal recognition that a laboratory is competent to perform specific tasks. Laboratory accreditation recognises a Laboratory's technical capability and is usually specific for tests of the systems, products, components, or materials for which the Laboratory claims proficiency.
Accreditation allows a Laboratory to determine whether it is performing its work correctly and according to appropriate standards. Accreditation establishes that standards are met and a framework approach to detect nonconformities when they occur. Laboratories with good practices will have defensible results, but accreditation means that the results are defensible to a recognised standard that does not change when lab personnel or circumstances change.
The ISO 17025 accreditation is a customer's assurance of a laboratory's quality and technical competence. Technical assessors relevant to the lab's technical operations have assessed the lab against the requirements of ISO 17025 and relevant industry standards.
Flash Point and Total Sulphur were chosen for accreditation because they are critical tests for a premium product like GTL Diesel, which has a sulphur concentration in the range of 1 ppm. Incorrect reporting of Flash Point can severely damage the reputation of the company in the export market not to mention the huge financial losses associated with selling an off spec product.
pH, Turbidity and Chemical Oxygen Demand were chosen due to their importance in determining the quality of the treated effluent water (Irrigation Water) which is exported from the company for irrigation purpose. By including Treated Effluent Water under the scope of ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accreditation, Oryx GTL has further demonstrated its commitment to protect the environment by not only producing a clean almost sulfur free fuel but by also ensuring that the effluent discharged from the company is also clean and fit for use as irrigation water.
The path to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accreditation of the Laboratory has not been an easy one and there were numerous hurdles to overcome. One of the first hurdles Laboratory faced was in selecting an authoritative body, A2LA (The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation) was dropped as a possible accreditation body after A2LA decided to terminate Bilateral Agreement with European Co-operation for Accreditation and was later used as consultants.
© The Peninsula 2010
