Custom research projects
Research and method development
Some measurement problems don’t have a standard answer.
When the published methods don’t exist or don’t work, we pick up the project, scope it honestly, and deliver a system or method you can operate, defend, and own.
What brings customers here
Not every laboratory needs an R&D department. Some just need ours.
Most laboratories are built to run processes, not to solve analytical problems from scratch. When you can’t measure what you need to control, or when the measurement exists but can’t be trusted or defended, there’s rarely anyone in-house with the time, the instruments, or the application depth to close that gap.
Sometimes the application is genuinely new: no published method, no established approach, no one who has done it before.
That’s where we step in. Think of it as access to a dedicated R&D function with the analytical depth of a research department, available when you need it.
There is no published method
The standard answer doesn’t exist. The method is not in ASTM, not in ISO, not in a vendor application note. Your team has gone as far as the literature allows and the gap is still there.
The existing methods can’t handle your sample
Your sample is too heavy, too reactive, or too extreme.
Heavy hydrocarbons are condensing before the detector.
Ammonia is sticking on all the surfaces. Trace analytes in a matrix that swamps the signal. The chemistry is working against you, not with you.
The economics of third-party testing don’t work
You know you need to bring it in-house. Outsourcing is too slow, too expensive, or too specialized.
You’re sending samples out, waiting days, and paying a lot per run. You need the measurement closer to the process; on a system your team can run.
Sound like your situation? Let’s see what’s possible
How we work
Let's talk!
A custom research project always starts with a conversation.
We need to understand the problem before we can tell you whether it’s solvable. Expect questions about what you have already tried and how it failed, how you define success, what regulatory or operational requirements the result must meet, who will own and operate the process afterward, and what the scale and timeline look like.
We commit when three things line up: the problem sits inside our area of expertise, the goal is clear and measurable, and our specialist believes a solution is achievable even when the path is not yet known.
If one of those is missing, we will say so in the first meeting. Walking away early is more valuable to both sides than a project that should never have started.
How it works in real life
- Scope and commit. Plain-language statement of the problem, the target, and what success looks like. Funding model agreed up front.
- Hypothesis and experiment. Work runs in our Edmonton laboratory on real instruments, using the same hypothesis–experiment–revise cycle documented in our SR&ED submissions to the CRA.
- Honest progress reporting. You hear when something is not working, not just when it is. Key decisions come back to you, especially around acceptable tradeoffs.
- Validated method handover. You receive a documented method and, where applicable, the instrument or subsystem that runs it. Training happens at your site or at our Edmonton laboratory.
- Ongoing support. We're still here after the commissioning. The system is yours to operate, and we stay available for follow-on work and support.
A note on SR&ED
Our custom research work has been reviewed and approved for Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credits by the Canada Revenue Agency every year since at least 2018. SR&ED eligibility requires genuine scientific uncertainty, systematic investigation, and documented advancement of knowledge. That is the bar we work to, and it is verified by certified authorities.
The work
Problems we have solved for our customers
The fastest way to understand what custom research looks like at Scion Instruments Canada is to see the work itself. These are real projects across six themes.
Some are deployed and running. Some are active research projects. Some produced their most valuable findings by defining the limits of what’s possible.
We list them together on purpose. A research partner who only shows successes is not telling you the whole story.
Single phase hydrocarbon analysis
Heavy fractions, pressurized streams, and the wax problem holistic hydrocarbon analysis from LPG through condensate and bitumen cannot be done reliably with conventional GC methods at atmospheric conditions. Heavy constituents condense before the detector.
We developed pressurized liquid-phase delivery, passivated transfer lines, dual timed injection, and a modular cartridge design that swaps between propane and butane feedstocks with two screws.
The propane and butane system is deployed at a Canadian processing site and outperforms the previous analytical approach. Condensates and heavier fractions are still active work.
Nuclear and specialty gas
Ultra-trace measurement in extreme environments Hydrogen isotope separation (H2, HD, D2) for CANDU heavy water and deuterium production. Vacuum injection GC for 2 mL control rod samples, developed over nearly 500 experiments.
Trace permanent gases in krypton and xenon matrices using a midpoint pressure valve technique we developed in-house. Each project produced either a deployed system, a standalone column sold to the nuclear industry, or a validated methodology where none existed before.
Carbon capture and process monitoring
Industrial firsts in live process streams An inline amine sampling system for a Canadian carbon capture facility was the first of its kind ever built.
We achieved GC resolution of MEA and water from a caustic aqueous stream for the first time. CO2 detection was blocked by a carbonate by-product forming during amine vaporization. The project is currently on hold, and the problem is still worth solving
Detector and method advancement
Pushing GC capability where the industry needs it A low-detection-limit methanizer for CO reaching 6.86 ppb, deployed alongside an existing analyzer at a production facility.
The first separation of all three xylene isomers in gasoline with hydrogen carrier gas and no cryogenics. A 75 percent reduction in GHG analysis run time with hydrogen carrier, and the unexpected discovery of SF6 detection at ambient concentrations without cryogenic preconcentration. PFPD optimization for H2S and COS at sub-ppm levels in natural gas.
Food safety and medical
Matrix-heavy problems other laboratories cannot afford to run A 100-fold sensitivity improvement for quinclorac in honey using PFBBr derivatization, aimed at affordable on-site herbicide testing for Canadian honey producers facing strict export limits.
Industrial throughput is not yet achieved; it remains a challenge. In clinical diagnostics, we automated breath sample displacement using argon for MIGET pulmonary testing, a sophisticated ventilation-perfusion measurement that currently takes 16 hours of manual work. The dilution mechanism remains in development.
A proof story
Heavy hydrocarbons in butane streams, showing up as deposits
A Canadian gas processor was seeing physical wax and deposit buildup in propane and butane streams that existing analytics showed as clean. The measurement gap was not academic. It was a maintenance and product quality problem the team could see with their own eyes but could not quantify.
The solution did not exist. There was no published method for the molecular weight range we needed to cover in a pressurized liquid-phase stream. We disproved a temperature-based vaporization approach early, then moved to pressurized cold-on-column delivery using butane itself as the solvent to keep heavy components in solution until the moment of injection.
Passivated transfer lines prevented adsorption on internal surfaces. We collaborated with Alberta Innovates on a C1 to C24 hydrocarbon standard at 500 psi for validation. The customer funded the development and has now purchased two systems. The modular cartridge design that came out of the project is what makes it field-deployable for other LPG customers.
1st
of-kind measurement for a Canadian gas processor
Industry
workaround replaced with a single integrated method
Customer
funded development, two systems sold, ongoing relationship. Work documented in annual SR&ED submissions to the CRA
Our resource is at your service
Custom research runs out of our Edmonton laboratory. It’s a working research facility, not just a demo space. Instruments, columns, detectors, and sample systems are on hand for development.
The platform set is deliberately GC-native because that is where our expertise lives and where we can commit in good faith.
Scion 8300 and 8500 GC
The instruments we develop on. Modular inlets, detectors, and valving suited to research configurations.
Scion GC/MS (SQ and TQ)
For applications where mass selective detection is required. Used across hydrocarbon speciation, specialty gas work and polymers characterization.
Specialty detectors
PFPD for sulfur and phosphorus. ECD for halogens. PDHID for noble gases and ultra-trace permanent gases. TCD, FID, methanizer.
Custom columns and packed phases
Column development is part of the work. Custom packed alumina with salt catalysts, polymer phases, and proprietary packing techniques are standard tools.
Sample introduction development
Pressurized liquid-phase delivery, vacuum and partial-pressure injection, cryogenic sampling, heat-traced transfer lines, vacuum sample vials conditioning, custom autosampler for pressurized vessels. Purpose-built by us to solve your problem.
Compass CDS
The data system that runs it all. Custom report templates, internal calculations, and SR&ED-grade documentation of experimental conditions.
Not sure which support lane fits your laboratory?
Tell us what you’re trying to measure.
A custom research project starts with one conversation and honest scoping. If your problem fits, we commit. If it doesn’t, we will tell you in the first meeting and, where possible, point you somewhere better. Either way you leave with a clearer picture than you had when you arrived.