The ANTnano Air Analyser offers both an advance in technology in terms of near real time monitoring and a complementary trouble shooting option.
The filter based approach involves use of a Galley sampler, typically sampling for a defined period, removing the filter, and sending to a dedicated
laboratory for ELISA immunoassay. Here the filter is subjected to extraction and analysis for the target biochemical. Knowledge of volumetric air flow rate and sampling period then enables airborne
concentration to be calculated.
High volume filter air sampling while used extensively can take either hours or days to obtain results
downstream, so that no immediate reaction can be taken if a release is detected. Secondly, the
measured concentration is the average across the sampling period, and if a long sampling period is adopted, a high transient release of biochemical, sufficient to cause harm to the workers, may go undetected due to the averaging effect.
The ANTnano Air Analyser provides near real-time
information and almost instant notification should high
airborne concentrations occur. In addition the instrument can be used to trouble shoot hot spots while being fully portable.
Key benefits of the ANTnano Air Analyser;
- Offers enhanced worker protection, by eliminating retrospective and time-averaged data
- Offers real time correlation with operational and manufacturing activities taking place ‘there and then’
- Can analyse and help identify the source of intermittent releases from manufacturing lines
- Transient releases are not hidden in time averaged data, thus helping understand worker sensitization issues
- Integrated analysis enables the complex extraction and analysis process required with filter based approaches to be eliminated
The ANTnano Air Analyser offers both an alternative and complementary approach to high volume air sampling, while providing the confidence and safety of near real time monitoring of airborne enzyme levels.
Key features of the ANTnano Air Analyser;
- Continuous near real time monitoring of airborne enzyme concentrations.
- Ability to detect both protease and alpha-amylase (bacterial and fungal)
- Readings available every ~10 minutes, over periods of 8 hours or more.
- Limit of detection <5ng/m3
- Measurement precision ~10%
- Configurable air flow rate
- Highly efficient cyclone based air sampling system for enzyme capture
- Fully automated via dedicated controller, with touch screen user interface
- Portable configuration enables measurement at any location
- Data export capability for reporting purposes
- Hose adaptor enables task specific monitoring and ‘hot spot’ analysis
- Similar in size to filter based sampling systems
- CE Marked
In addition to the above, a flow injection analysis system is integral in the instrument. This enables extracts taken from filters to be measured directly, using the same analytical modules as used for airborne enzyme measurement.
The instrument incorporates an air intake similar in nature to that used in the Newton Galley sampler. Air is pulled through the air intake and into a Cyclone, and an air vortex is created that spirals towards the apex of the Cyclone before then returning back on itself towards the air outlet. Buffer fluid also enters the Cyclone, and as a consequence of the air vortex, is also forced to spiral towards the apex of the Cyclone. Airborne particulates mix with the spiralling fluid, affecting the transfer of solid particulates into liquid solution, where the latter flows out of the Cyclone into a Sample Reservoir.
Fluid from the Sample Reservoir is subsequently injected through a patented Bioreactor, and any enzyme present in the solution digests a proportionate amount of packing material that is held in the
Bioreactor. This digestion process results in fluorescent material being released from the packing material
into solution, which then passes into an optical
Fluorimeter.
The optical fluorescence intensity is measured and is proportional to the amount of enzyme captured by the air intake at the start of this process.
Following calibration, the above process results in a direct read-out of airborne enzyme concentration with time.
The Sampler module not only enables calibration of the bioreactor (via injections whose enzyme concentration is known), but also enables the direct measurement of enzyme concentrations in filter extracts. A batch of filter extract samples are loaded into the Sampler, and automatically injected through the Bioreactor in sequence, thus providing a direct read-out of enzyme concentrations, typically in ng/ml quantities.
The instrument is designed to accommodate a flexible hose in place of a normally fixed air intake. This allows the user to undertake monitoring in hard to reach areas, or for the monitoring of specific tasks being undertaken
by an operator, or for ‘hot spot’ analysis along a manufacturing line - for the identification of suspect release points.
Most often, high volume air samplers such as the Newton Galley sampler operate at 600 litres/min volumetric air flow rate. Fundamentally, this is driven by the need to guarantee the capture of enzyme particulates on filter paper, whilst (dependent on the design of the air intake), also providing a linear air velocity that simulates normal human breathing characteristics. The ANTnano Air Analyser does not use filter paper, and whilst it complies with air velocity industry standards (e.g. 1m/sec), as with the Newton Galley sampler, the Air Analyser’s volumetric air flow rate is chosen to maximise the measurement sensitivity of the instrument.