Many activities of the laboratory occur on an irregular basis on short term notice. Such activities may include a quick raw material evaluation. The procurement department of a smelter may send some coke samples of a new supplier to check the compatibility with the existing raw materials. In such a case a full analysis of the new and the reference coke followed by a bench-scale test will provide valuable information long before the potential new coke is processed in the plant. Preliminary tests may be conducted, when a plant experiences problems in its pot rooms, such as a carbon dusting or anode cracking problem. The information gained from these tests often gives valuable indications of the potential root cause(s) of the problem. This allows for resolving the actual problem much more efficiently during the subsequent plant visit.

R&D Carbon regularly conducts round-robin tests to support other laboratories to ensure the accuracy of their measurements. For owners of laboratory test equipment from R&D Carbon, support service is available for maintenance, repair and certification. This allows assuring the comparability of the test results found on carbon materials.

Prebaked and Söderberg anode plants can send regularly samples of anodes and raw materials for analysis of the relevant properties in weekly, bi-weekly or monthly intervals. Often, these plants operate also their laboratory. But the test results provided by R&D Carbon are usually broader and accompanied by an evaluation of actual trends that are presented graphically.

The short lead time makes it also interesting for plants, which could send the samples to their corporate laboratory. The third-party opinion given in the comprehensive reports is an important support for the responsible plant personnel in their decisions about raw material procurement and plant operation.

Many suppliers of coke, pitch, prebaked anodes, but also of special products (such as Söderberg briquets or ramming paste) appreciate the service or R&D Carbon for independent certification of their product shipments. The quality sheet as part of the technical report brings an added value to the product, as the particular advantages claimed by the producer get much more transparent.

R&D Carbon is also regularly contacted as an independent party for arbitrage questions. Either suppliers or consumers send samples for analysis to crosscheck whether the specifications are met.