The Elemental Microanalysis Unit was created on 15 March 1994 and is part of the Research Support Centres of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). Its purpose is to provide support to research groups at the UCM and other Universities and private research centres in the field of quantitative analysis of the elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur.

The Unit has been accredited since June 2003 for the determination of C, H, N and S contents by the National Accreditation Entity (ENAC) according to the ISO-IEC-17025 quality standard for calibration and testing laboratories. This standard contains management requirements very similar to those of the ISO 9001 standard and also includes a series of additional requirements aimed at guaranteeing the veracity of the results and the technical competence of the laboratories that hold this accreditation. Very few microanalysis laboratories have it, and ours has the widest range of accreditation.

Accredited range:
% C: 0,54-82,42
% H: 2,75-6,71
% N: 0,45-20,13
% S: 0,57-26,69

The Unit belongs to the Network of Laboratories and Research Infrastructures of the Community of Madrid since September 2008.

It has two automatic elemental analysers which are able to carry out the simultaneous determination of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur. Due to the crucial importance of sample weighing in our technique, we also have three ultra-microbalances and so we can measure masses accurately in the microgram.

The Unit has gradually gained prestige throughout Spain and currently provides regular support to more than 50 research groups from CSIC universities and centres and research institutes and to more than 10 companies.