At CIRAM, we perform carbon 14 analyses in compliance with the NF EN 16640 standard to accurately determine the proportion of carbonbiobased in industrial products containing carbon, such as plastics, polymers, solvents, or biocomposites.
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The NF EN 16640 standard is a European standard published in 2017, resulting from the work of technical committee CEN/TC 411, and dedicated to the characterization of products biobased. It is part of a set of references aimed at structuring and harmonizing the measurement methods for biobased content on a European scale.
Its objective is to provide a reliable and standardized method for determining the carbon content biobased in any product containing carbon, by using the measurement of carbon 14 as a natural tracer.
The standard is based on radiocarbon analysis (carbon 14), which makes it possible to distinguish:
It thus allows for:
Unlike some international approaches, the NF EN 16640 standard expresses the content biobased relative to the total carbon of the material, ensuring a consistent and comparable reading of the results.
To learn more about the principles of this standard and its application to radiocarbon analysis, please consult our dedicated article: the NF EN 16640 standard and radiocarbon analysis of products biobased
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The NF EN 16640 standard applies to all products containing carbon, including plastics and polymers, biocomposites, solvents biobased as well as certain chemicals and industrial materials.
It is used at different stages of the materials lifecycle, both in the development phase (R&D) and for market launch or certification processes, in order to provide an objective measure of the biobased content, independent of supplier declarations or material balances.
The standard provides different analytical methods for measuring carbon 14. Among these, accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is today the reference technique due to its precision and sensitivity. This is the method used by CIRAM to guarantee precise, robust, and directly usable results in industrial and certification processes.
The analysis allows for the determination of the modern carbon percentage (pMC), an indicator directly derived from the measurement of carbon 14. This value is then used to express the carbon content biobased of the material, relative to the total carbon, in accordance with the standard's requirements.
The results can be expressed as a fraction of total carbon or as a percentage of carbon biobased, ensuring a reliable, traceable, and reproducible measurement that is recognized internationally.
This approach provides a measurement that is independent of declarative formulations or material balances, based solely on the carbon isotopic signature.
Explore the areas of applicationAt CIRAM, we apply the NF EN 16640 standard within a rigorously controlled analytical framework, adapted to industrial products containing carbon and to the comparability requirements specific to European markets.
Our approach is based on the precise measurement of carbon 14 applied to various matrices, in order to guarantee coherent, comparable, and usable results in content validation processes biobased.
We bring you :
Yes. NF EN 16640 applies to a wide range of products biobased, while ISO 16620-2 is specific to plastics and polymers.
Plastics, solvents, biocomposites, and any product containing organic carbon.
It provides data used in certification and labeling processes, but does not constitute certification in and of itself.
Yes, our laboratory contributes to standardization work at the European level, particularly within the working group CEN/TC 411/WG3 dedicated to biobased products.
The current version in force is the NF EN 16640:2017 standard, which serves as the reference for measuring carbon content biobased by radiocarbon analysis in Europe.
To date, no major revisions have been published. The NF EN 16640:2017 standard remains the applicable version. Like any standard, however, it may be subject to revisions or updates as part of European standardization efforts.
Yes, the French version is available through AFNOR. This translation corresponds to the national adoption of the European standard, with no changes to its technical content.
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