Transcript CNLSD Condensation Nucleation Light Scattering Detector

Nano Quantity Analyte Detector
(NQAD)
A New Aerosol-based HPLC Detector
February 2008
Quant Technologies LLC
Quant Technologies was founded
in 2003 as a subsidiary of Power
Engineering & Manufacturing,
Inc. (PEM)
Our primary focus is engineering
design & instrument
development, and manufacturing
Our Mission: To bring to market high quality, innovative and affordable aerosol
instrumentation for applications in basic and applied research, environmental
studies, process and quality control, and occupational health and safety.
A History of Success
In 2003, Quant licensed a remarkable new technology from Aerosol
Dynamics, Inc. for laminar-flow water-based condensation particle counting.
Our first commercial product was developed within one year of licensing.
Product line includes:
A family of four Water Condensation Particle Counters (WCPCs)
for basic and applied aerosol research ,and are marketed exclusively by TSI
Incorporated
A Nonvolatile Residue Monitor for measuring impurity levels in
ultrapure water systems for the semiconductor industry; marketed
exclusively by Fluid Measurement Technologies, Inc.
The new Nano Quantity Analyte Detector (NQAD)
Design & Development
• Successful partnering with inventors and technology leaders
• Skilled senior-level engineering design team with almost 30 years
experience developing state-of-the-art scientific aerosol
instrumentation
• In-house expertise in electronics, optics, mechanical design,
firmware, software, modeling, and cost-effective manufacturing
• Well-equipped engineering development and aerosol test laboratory
Manufacturing
•
16,000 sq. ft. facility in a light industrial park in Blaine, Minnesota; half
dedicated to Quant Technologies and half to our parent company PEM
•
State-of-the-art production areas, raw material storage, prototype machine
shop, and analytical chemistry laboratory
•
Low to medium volume manufacturing in quantities from 10’s to 100’s
annually – PEM volumes of electro-mechanical devices ranges 1,000’s to
10,000’s annually.
•
ISO 9001 Quality System with certification on February 5, 2008
•
ISO 14644 Class 5 clean room and ASTM D1193, Type 1 Microbiological
Grade A water system
Key Employees
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Fred Quant
Derek Oberreit
Laurencia Kyariga
Chuck Bille
Andrew Amighi
Jim Blesener
President
Development Engineer
Applications Chemist
Marketing/Sales/Distribution
CEO
CAO and operations support
Acknowledgements
The NQAD development was funded, in part,
through an SBIR grant from the National Institutes
of Health awarded to Fluid Measurement
Technologies, Inc. and Southern Illinois University
Carbondale (SIUC)
Quant Technologies wishes to acknowledge the
pioneering work of Professor John Koropchak and
his colleagues at SIUC
The patented WCPC technology is licensed from
Aerosol Dynamics, Inc. US Patent # 6,712,881
What is NQAD?
A new and very different
aerosol-based universal HPLC detector
Heart of the instrument is a patented
Water Condensation Particle Counter
(WCPC)
WCPC technology is well-known and
widely used in other scientific fields
such as climate research and
nanoparticle technology
Nano Quantity Analyte Detector
(NQAD) – original work at SIUC in mid90s
How NQAD Works
Particle numbers not volume or mass
Very Sensitive
• like counting photons vs light intensity
• like counting electrons vs analog electric current
How NQAD Works
Nebulized Aerosol Distribution
• Log Normal
• Stable
How NQAD Works
Evaporation
• 2-3 order of magnitude shift in particle size
• Nonvolatile Residue
How NQAD Works
Size shift of aerosol distribution – basis for aerosol based detectors
Water Condensation Particle Counters
How(WCPCs)
CNLSD Works
Measures the number concentration of very
small airborne particles above a minimum
size.
Uses water as the condensing fluid –
non-toxic, odorless, non-flammable, noncontaminating
•Ultra-sensitive particle size range –
from 2.5 nm to over 3 µm diameter
•Wide dynamic concentration range –
from 0 to 107 particles/cm3
WCPC
Water Condensation Particle Counter
• Grows seed particles into droplets
• Supersaturation occurs because of the
difference between the thermo and mass
diffusivities of water vapor
• Counts Particles – Doesn’t size them
• 6 Order of magnitude counting range
WCPC
Water Condensation Particle Counter
• Very high signal to noise ratio
WCPC
WCPC Detection Efficiency
• Stable
How NQAD Works
Low baseline
requires ‘clean’
mobile phase
and volatile buffers
NQAD signal based
on the particle count
rate - #/sec
How NQAD Works
How NQAD Works
NQAD Recap
Nebulization
HPLC column effluent is sprayed into an ultra fine mist
of droplets
Droplet size distribution is bell shaped on log scale
NQAD Recap
Evaporation
Mobile phase and additives evaporate leaving small
residue particles
Choice of evaporator temperature ensures evaporation
of mobile phase - minimizes evaporation of analyte
Baseline curve –
pure mobile phase plus
additives
Analyte curve –
curve shifts to larger
particle size with
analyte present
NQAD Recap
WCPC – Condensational Growth
Supersaturated water vapor condenses on particles to
form large droplets
Only particles above critical size act as condensation
nucleation sites (WCPC Detection Efficiency curve)
Baseline signal is
small compared to
analyte
Analyte detection
down to 1 ng and
below possible
NQAD Recap
Optical Detection
Laser optical detector computes the quantity of droplets
Dynamic range is over four orders of magnitude
NQAD signal is
particle number
concentration as
function of time
Peak area under curve
represents analyte
concentration level
What Makes NQAD Better?
Ultra-high Sensitivity
Excellent Dynamic Range
Good Linearity
Reproducible
Small Size, Robust, Reliable
Easy to Set Up and Operate
Ultra-high Sensitivity
Reliably detect from 1 nanogram to 100 micrograms, or more LOD in the sub-nanogram range
Ideal for searching for drug impurities, degradation products, excipients
and when industrial hygiene is a concern
Reproducible Results
NQAD response is stable, precise and reproducible
Example shows six repeated injections of a solution of cations -- the
chromatograms are identical
Applications
Analysis of nonvolatile and
semivolatile compounds:
Use in a variety of fields
including:
•Amino acids
•Pharmaceutical
•Carbohydrates
•Steroids
•Caffeine
•Cations
•Cholesterol
•Amine
•Artemisinin (ART) and Dihydroartemisinin (DHA)
•PEG 1000 and PEG 20000
•Sulfonic Acid and Sulfanilamide
•Saccharin, Theophylline and Sucrose
•Ovalbumin
•Dipalmitin isomers
•Environmental
•Agricultural / food / beverage
•Industrial products
•Life sciences
•Energy / petroleum
•Forensics / narcotics
NQAD
Thank you