DORIS BUTTERWORTH AWARD

Since 2023, Butterworth Laboratories has proudly sponsored the Doris Butterworth Award, presented to the student who has demonstrated outstanding performance throughout their Analytical Chemistry course at Kingston University.   This year’s award went to Ryan, who recently graduated with an MSc in Analytical Chemistry and Mala and John were delighted to present the award to Ryan at the graduation ceremony on 22 January.  Ryan discussed his project, which involved using ICP-MS to analyse public water sources in London for heavy metal contamination. He has agreed to write a short synopsis of this work, which we will publish on our website upon receipt.  

HARMITT GILL 1969 – 2026

It is with great sadness that we inform you that Harmit Gill, a member of our General Lab for over 18 years, recently passed away.  He will be fondly remembered and missed by all those who knew him, and our thoughts go out to his family.

Meghann Simcock, one of our Senior Analytical Chemists, describes how careful sample preparation, advanced instrumentation, and rigorous quality controls at Butterworth Laboratories ensure accurate, compliant, and reliable Inductively Coupled Plasma–Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) results across a wide range of materials and regulatory requirements.  Read her Blog here to find out more.  Click Here

HOW DID BUTTERWORTH PERFORM IN 2025?

We have always strived to provide the highest levels of customer service, and we are keen to listen to our clients’ feedback to help us do better in the future.  We would therefore appreciate it if you could take 3 minutes to complete a short survey.  It can be completed anonymously, and every piece of feedback is important to us.  To participate in the Survey: Click Here. Thank you for your cooperation.

SEASONS GREETINGS FROM BUTTERWORTH LABORATORIES

Having completed our 50^th Anniversary year in 2024, our theme for 2025 was laying down the foundations for our future. We understand how important it is for our customers to be able to rely on us to deliver high-quality services on time and, to do this, it is essential that we have the capacity and the best possible facilities.

Work has now started on the latest phase of our site modernisation project, which will create additional laboratory space and well-equipped modern facilities.  A major influence on the design of this new build is our goal to have a minimal environmental impact together with high levels of sustainability.  In addition to its energy-efficient design, the building will also feature PV panels capable of generating 20 kW of electricity.  Although this initial capacity won’t be enough to cover our entire consumption, it can be expanded further as and when we complete future stages of our site’s redevelopment.  Another feature is the air conditioning, which is designed to extract the surplus heat emitted from our instruments and then use it to warm the office areas.  We will provide you with an update when the work is completed in 2026.

This year, we have continued to fine-tune our processes to ensure we can deliver even better levels of service. We always welcome visits from our clients, as they enable us to demonstrate our capabilities, professionalism, knowledge, and expertise.  This year, it was a pleasure to host 34 client audits, all of which had very successful outcomes with very few observations raised.  If you are an existing client or considering using our services for the first time, why not contact our QA team to arrange a visit in 2026?

Our success in 2025 has not only been down to the excellent people we have at Butterworth, but also to our wonderful clients.  We would like to thank you all for your continued support and for using our services in 2025.  On behalf of us all at Butterworth Laboratories, we look forward to continuing to work with you throughout 2026 and beyond.

Wishing you a lovely Christmas period and a prosperous 2026.

2026 PRICES

We have been working hard to keep our costs under control and improve our efficiency to ensure we can keep our charges to a minimum without sacrificing our high levels of quality and service.  Inevitably, though, we need to keep pace with the current rate of inflation and because of this, our charges will increase by 3.5% on the 1st of January.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY OPENING TIMES

• We will be closed from noon 24th December 2025 to 9 am 2nd January 2026
• The deadline for sample receipt is 5 pm on 23rd December 2025
• Fast turnaround work can only be arranged by prior agreement.

    Please contact info@butterworth-labs.co.uk

RICHMOND BUSINESS AWARDS 2025

We are delighted to announce that Butterworth was awarded the Environmental Sustainability Award at the Richmond Upon Thames Business Awards on Friday, 5th December. This recognition reflects our own sustained efforts to minimise environmental impact and to embed sustainable practices across every aspect of our operations.

We also received the following awards:

• Best Professional Practice Award – Highly Commended
• Best Customer Service Award – Highly Commended
• Best Training and Development – Highly Commended
• Best Achievement in Corporate Social Responsibility – Commended
• Best Business Award – Commended

To be acknowledged across such a wide range of categories, from innovation and sustainability to customer service, training and community impact, is a powerful endorsement of our culture and values.

We are pleased to announce that at the Richmond Upon Thames Business Awards held on Friday, 5th December, we were winners of the Environmental Sustainability award. Reflecting the efforts made by the company in their efforts to minimise our environmental impact and to promote sustainable practices across all aspects of our operations.

We also received the following awards:

• Best Professional Practice Award – Highly Commended
• Best Customer Service Award – Highly Commended
• Best Training and Development – Highly Commended
• Best Achievement in Corporate Social Responsibility – Commended
• Best Business Award – Commended

To be acknowledged across such a wide range of categories, from innovation and sustainability to customer service, training and community impact, is a powerful endorsement of our culture and values.

The Environmental Sustainability Award follows our recent successful EcoVadis assessment in October, which resulted in a Bronze Rating.

The Barrier Ionisation Discharge (BID) detector, introduced by Shimadzu in the early 2010s. Credit: Butterworth Laboratories/Shimadzu

The use of the barrier ionisation discharge (BID) detector is proving to be an impressive tool for detecting organic and inorganic compounds, permanent gases, and volatile solvents at trace levels.

Gas chromatography (GC) remains an indispensable analytical tool in the pharmaceutical industry, supporting tasks ranging from residual solvent analysis and headspace testing to process gas monitoring and excipient quality control. Yet, with increasing demands for trace-level quantitation, multi-component analysis, and regulatory-compliant testing, traditional GC detectors such as the Thermal Conductivity Detector (TCD) or Flame Ionisation Detector (FID) often reach their performance limits. The Barrier Ionisation Discharge (BID) detector, introduced by Shimadzu in the early 2010s, is emerging as a powerful solution for these challenges. Leveraging dielectric barrier discharge plasma technology, BID combines universal detection, high sensitivity, and broad linear dynamic range, making it particularly relevant for pharmaceutical GC detection applications.

To read the full article published on Pharmaceutical Technology Website, Click Here

As we are approaching the festive season, we wanted to give something back to our valued customers. We know that there is always a rush to get results before the end of the year, and so we want to make sure that you receive yours in plenty of time before the upcoming break.

With that in mind, we would like to offer you a  5-day turnaround for the price of our standard 10-day service for all LC and GC work.

Just quote FESTIVE FINISH when you send your enquiry through to us, and if your work complies with the conditions listed below, we will do the rest to ensure a speedier than normal service.

Terms & Conditions for this Offer

1.  This offer is for Liquid Chromatography (LC) and Gas Chromatography (GC), including Headspace Gas Chromatography (GC-HS) tests only (Promotional Tests).
2.  Enquiries must contain the Promotion Code: FESTIVE FINISH, with samples received before the 1st of December 2025.
3.  This promotion is limited to LC and GC tests only (Promotional Tests).  If your requirements involve other tests, we may be able to provide the following options: Please enquire
    3.1.  If the lab capacity permits; carry out all tests to a 5-day turnaround (non-promotional tests will be charged at our standard fast turnaround rates – please enquire to find out more and to confirm lab availability), or
    3.2.  Complete the LC and/or GC tests to a 5-day turnaround, with all other tests being completed to our standard 10-day service (we may be able to provide earlier results for all tests, but this cannot be guaranteed).
4.  This promotion is limited to jobs for which we would normally be able to offer a 5-day turnaround.  Very large jobs or jobs requiring complex testing may not qualify for the promotion, and our quotes team will contact you immediately on receipt of your enquiry in these cases.
5.  Availability of this offer is dependent on laboratory capacity.
6.  Requirements for turnaround times faster than 5 days should be requested separately.

To Request a Quote: Click Here

The EDQM has updated Ph. Eur. monographs to detect ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol. Butterworth Laboratories supports compliance through validated chromatographic testing, impurity screening, and documentation—helping pharmaceutical companies ensure product safety and protect patient lives.

Read the article written by John Welch and published by Manufacturing Chemist, highlighting that this was an issue we commented on in 2023, that the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that more than 300 children had died in The Gambia, Indonesia, and Uzbekistan in 2022 following the consumption of contaminated medicines. 

John Welch has written a short article published by Manufacturing Chemist on Butterworth’s move to using a dedicated Amino Acid Analyser to enable them to provide testing for all listed amino acids in the European Pharmacopoeia monographs.

To read the full article, Click here

ION CHROMATOGRAPHY – PUBLISHED ARTICLE

John Welch, Associate Director – Business Operations at Butterworth Laboratories, provides his perspective on the pharmaceutical industry’s development, innovation and adoption of ion chromatography, in an article entitled: The long road to acceptance: The slow adoption of ion chromatography in the pharmaceutical industry.

To read this latest article published on Pharmaceutical Technology.  Click here

LATEST WHITEPAPER

Titled:  Analysis of Zinc Compounds using USP Monographs, Kat Jones, Team Leader IC and Elemental Microanalysis, highlights the move from Titrimetric Analysis to Ion Chromatography.  
Click here to download and read this whitepaper.

DORIS BUTTERWORTH PRIZE WINNER

Since 2023, Butterworth Laboratories  has been supporting the Doris Butterworth Award at Kingston University.  This award is given to the student, who in the opinion of the Chemistry Department, has demonstrated outstanding performance throughout their course in Analytical Chemistry.  
This year, the award went to Chaelan Rsheed, who graduated in January with an MSc in Analytical Chemistry. In receiving the award she wrote this short piece on her journey through Kingston University and her ambitions for the future.  To read more Click Here

Since 2023, Butterworth Laboratories has supported the Doris Butterworth Award at Kingston University. This award is given to the student who, in the opinion of the Chemistry Department, has demonstrated outstanding performance throughout their course in Analytical Chemistry.  

This year’s award went to Chaelan Rsheed, who graduated in January with an MSc in Analytical Chemistry.

To read her story Click Here

John Welch, Associate Director at Butterworth Laboratories, provides his perspective on the pharmaceutical industry’s development, innovation, and adoption of ion chromatography.

To read this latest article published on Pharmaceutical Technology. Click here

If you’re unfamiliar with how ion chromatography works, check out our Ion Chromatography overview page.