IONICON Analytik, the Austrian-based leading manufacturer of real-time trace VOC analyzers,
introduces a new compact high-resolution instrument. For the first time IONICON combines high sensitivity with a high mass resolving power in a small and lightweight PTR-TOFMS.
The PTR-TOF 4000 has already been successfully deployed aboard NASA flying laboratories for air
quality monitoring.
The Development
The PTR-TOF 1000 was launched in 2014. A new platform was developed with the aim of creating a compact and affordable PTR-TOFMS that would allow customers in various application areas to benefit from the company’s advanced time-of-flight technology throughout the world.
The New Instrument
IONICON CEO Lukas MÄRK explains the challenges - “We decided to develop the ’no-compromise’ trace VOC analyzer. A high-resolution PTR-TOFMS but small, lightweight, extremely sensitive and also competitively priced”.
These efforts lead to the new PTR-TOF 4000 featuring the new Hexapole “ION-GUIDE” technology and a novel high-resolution TOF. The results are an impressive mass resolution of up to 4000 m/Δm and a sensitivity of 200 cps/ppbv with a low detection limit of below 5 pptv.
The PTR-TOF 4000 complements IONICON’s PTR-TOFMS series ideally, being positioned in between the PTR-TOF 1000 system and the company’s current flagship instrument, the PTR-QiTOF.
Proven Aboard NASA’s Flying Laboratories
Prototypes of the new PTR-TOF 4000 have been extensively tested in the field. A long-standing
cooperation between the University of Innsbruck and IONICON made it possible to participate in
airborne campaigns aboard NASA’s atmospheric research aircrafts for measuring air pollution in
the atmosphere (e.g. KORUS-AQ). Mr. Märk comments on this mutually beneficial collaboration:
"We were able to test the PTR-TOF 4000 prototypes under the most demanding conditions and
could also benefit from the scientists’ experience when optimizing the performance of our novel
trace VOC analyzers."
