IONICON blog

Gemeinsame Entwicklung von IONICON und Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Ionenphysik und Angewandte Physik erhält Österreichs größten privaten Forschungspreis.

Das Institut für Ionenphysik und Angewandte Physik der Universität Innsbruck, konkret das Team von Prof. Armin Hansel, wurde für das Projekt „PTR-TOF Spurengasanalytik“ mit Österreichs größtem privaten Forschungspreis ausgezeichnet. Die Universität Innsbruck hat sich gegen zahlreiche Einreichungen durchgesetzt und wurde gestern Abend im Rahmen einer feierlichen Gala mit einem Preisgeld von 120.000 Euro zum Sieger ernannt.

Das Siegerprojekt

Das Forschungsprojekt „PTR-TOF Spurengasanalytik“ der Universität Innsbruck konnte dieses Jahr die fünfköpfige Fachjury überzeugen und erhielt den mit 120.000 Euro dotierten ersten Preis. Bisher war die Untersuchung von flüchtigen organischen Verbindungen, auch bekannt als „Volatile Organic Compounds“ (VOCs), wie z. B. Kohlenwasserstoffe, Alkohole, Aldehyde und organische Säuren, sehr zeit- und kostenintensiv. VOCs tragen zur Aerosol- und Wolkenbildung bei und können somit einen kühlenden Einfluss auf unser Klima haben. Das von der Universität Innsbruck entwickelte Verfahren liefert Resultate in Echtzeit und mit hoher Nachweiswahrscheinlichkeit. Das Team um Dr. Armin Hansel hat in Zusammenarbeit mit der Firma IONICON Analytik ein Messgerät für flüchtige organische Verbindungen entwickelt.

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In connection to the 6th International PTR-MS Conference the very first PTR-MS user day took place…

At the beginning of February we invited interested PTR-MS users to a very special community day before the 6th International PTR-MS Conference at the University Centre, Obergurgl, Austria. The IONICON team and 5 selected PTR-MS experts covering various fields of expertise and experiences held the very first IONICON PTR-MS User Day attracting more than 30 attendees.

IONICON User Day 2013_1

IONICON's science manaeger Dr. Philipp Sulzer is welcoming the PTR-MS expert panel who voluntarily provided their experience and advice for this first IONICON User Day.

IONICON User Day 2013_2

The expert panel consisting of (from left to right) Dr. Wilfried Szymczak, Dr. Jonathan Beauchamp, Prof. Armin Hansel, Prof. Rupert Holzinger and Prof. Thomas Karl is discussing issues raised by PTR-MS users.

IONICON User Day 2013_3

PTR-MS users from all over the world joined the first IONICON PTR-MS User Day.

IONICON User Day 2013_8

As a special guest lecture Dr. Erika Zardin presented an overview of available cummunity and company built PTR-TOFMS software suites.

IONICON User Day 2013_7

Topics range from analytically challenging applications to specific instrument operation related questions.

IONICON User Day 2013_4

Also input to problem solving and troubleshooting is given by members of the expert panel.

IONICON User Day 2013_5

Discussions and exchange of opinions are stimulated by a relaxed and open atmosphere.

IONICON User Day 2013_6

IONICON CEO Lukas Märk takes the opportunity to thank the expert panel, guest speaker and the audience for their participation and valuable feedback.

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Researchers on a mission for NASA use newly developed real-time trace gas analyzer from IONICON to measure air pollution in the atmosphere.

What is the quality of the air we breathe? NASA is trying to answer this question using satellite-based Earth observations. By the end of the century, satellite data shall be used for monitoring and predicting air quality, much the same as now for weather forecasting. To understand how air pollutants are distributed within the Earth’s atmosphere, NASA makes use of a new compact proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer (PTR-TOF-MS) which we specially developed for NASA deployment.

The innovative lightweight PTR-TOF-MS delivered data with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution measuring smallest concentrations of volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere. The instrument was deployed for the first time onboard the NASA P-3B research aircraft during the DISCOVER-AQ mission in January and February 2013 to study air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley in California.

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As a partner in the research framework ONCOTYROL (Center for personalized cancer medicine), Ionimed Analytik has conducted clinical breath gas analysis to investigate new ways for breast cancer screening. This work has now been picked by the Austrian journal GYN-AKTIV as their cover story for issue 6/2012 (in german). In this project Ionimed has employed an Ionicon PTR-TOF 8000 for the analysis of breath samples from more than 200 patients and controls.

Find the story in GYN-AKTIV 6/2012 (in German): pdf

For Airbus, cabin air quality is the key to a comfortable flight – IONICON PTR-MS technology helps the aircraft manufacturer analyzing the air.

On aircraft, cabin air quality contributes significantly to the comfort and well being of passengers and crews alike. Commercial aircraft operate primarily in the troposphere and lower stratosphere, which is an environment hostile to life. A sophisticated aircraft environmental control system ensures that our journey onboard aircraft usually is a comfortable experience despite outside conditions of -50°C, high ozone concentrations and only 1/5th of the ambient pressure on the earth’s surface. Outside air which is usually very clean, particularly during flight, is conveyed into the pressurized fuselage and approximately the same amount is discarded overboard by the environmental control system. The entire cabin air is exchanged with outside air every three minutes.

In an article in the Airbus / FAST magazine #50 (August 2012) Dr. Andreas Bezold (Airbus Operations GmbH) explains details of cabin air quality, the aircraft environmental control system and measurement campaigns involving an IONICON PTR-TOF 8000 instrument providing further insights:

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Article in ACS’ Analytical Chemistry journal: Discovery of a new dimension in selectivity for PTR-MS

We have already successfully demonstrated the ability of PTR-MS to detect common threat agents such as CWAs, TICs and Explosives in earlier studies. Using high-resolution IONICON PTR-TOFMS series instruments an unambiguous identification of most known substances has already been proven.

A new study shows that another potentially useful procedure for the elimination of false positives with regard to the detection of TNT using PTR-MS technology was found:

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A new generation in high sensitivity and high resolution Proton Transfer Reaction Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

We entered the market of commercial PTR-TOF-MS instruments in 2007 and soon became the benchmark for ultimate performance. True to our mission to developing instruments that go beyond known standards, we launched a product that exceeded specifications claimed in the literature at that time by far.

Now we redefine known standards again, but this time our own:

The IONICON PTR-TOF 8000 and PTR-TOF 2000, tuned to perfection, are both continuing to lead their respective fields in the market of time of flight based PTR-MS instruments: the PTR-TOF 8000 features the highest mass resolving power and the PTR-TOF 2000 the lowest detection limit of all commercially available PTR-TOF-MS systems.

Investments in in our R&D capabilities, but also in software engineering and ongoing optimization efforts have raised the bar: download our new PTR-TOFMS series Performance White Paper and have a look at our PTR-TOFMS series Performance Website to learn more.