Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Cal-Mate (Automated Preparation of Ultra-Precise Chemical Solutions.)

Teaser

Commercial testing laboratories need highly accurate, very low concentration, repeatable measurements. For example, a typical water testing laboratory will be running a mass spectrometer to determine 15 or more elements within a sample which may contain the target elements at...

Summary

Commercial testing laboratories need highly accurate, very low concentration, repeatable measurements. For example, a typical water testing laboratory will be running a mass spectrometer to determine 15 or more elements within a sample which may contain the target elements at parts-per-million (ppm) or parts-per-billion (ppb) concentration levels.A soil testing lab will typically analyse between 15 and 50 elements, depending on the source of a presumed contamination. The measurement instrument needs to be calibrated with both single elements and multi-element high accuracy reference concentrations. The reference level of each analyte will depend on the type of sample being analysed. The current method, to prepare precise solutions and reference standards for calibration, is to use a calibrated pipette to transfer a precise volume (e.g. 100ul) of commercially available Certified Reference Material (CRM) for the element to be tested and to deposit this liquid into an accurate volume (typically 5mL) of dilute acid, frequently an ultra-high purity nitric acid solution. Thereafter, it is often necessary to take an accurate volume of this first dilution (e.g. 50ul) and further dilute this in another accurately measured volume of dilute acid. This process may need to be repeated many times to achieve a required dilution concentration. The process requires a skilled operator, time and patience, if the final solution is to be an accurate concentration of the original reagent. Assuming a conservative average of 15 calibration curves needed, then 150 (15*10) solutions need to be prepared which will take between 2.5 and 5 hours. This amounts to between 17.5 hours and 35 hours per week spent manually preparing calibration solutions.

Cal-Mate will automate the process of preparing ultra-high precision and ultra-high accuracy dilutions for calibration standards for dispensing within minutes. PolyPico’s core technology dispenses volumes of fluid in the nano (10-9) & micro (10-6) range of volumes from precise increments which are in the pico (10-12) litre range, hence accuracies are achieved within the tolerance band of +/- 1 micro-drop and at a 1 microlitre volume, are up to 20,000 times more accurate than pipettes! To help put this level of precise granularity in perspective: a PolyPico dispenser can generate up to 1 Billion (1,000,000,000) individual identical fluid samples from a single teaspoon of fluid.

The overall objective of this feasibility study is to develop the design and technical specification of Cal-Mate for development and definition of the business plan for commercialisation for implementation at Phase 2.

Work performed

After undertaking relevant activities, we have developed an in-depth understanding of the likely criteria demanded by laboratories using mass spectrometers for analysis. We have confirmed the following value preposition of our solution with our early adopters;
- Cal-Mate will enable laboratories in meeting the highest standards of the pertaining to the preparation of Certified Reference Materials / Quality Control Materials: ISO Guide 80:2014: Guidance for the in-house preparation of quality control materials (QCMs)[ ]; ISO 17034:2016: General requirements for the competence of reference material producers with a cost-effective solution.

We have confirmed that the following features across the board are driving the demand for more accurately quantification of trace level concentrations of metals and organic and inorganic materials in water; food; biological samples; and commercial/industrial products. For example, quantifying the
- levels of lead in drinking water;
- levels of pesticides in food;
- levels of active pharmaceutical ingredients
- the residual solvents in medications.

Final results

The current state-of-the-art for the preparation of calibration standards is to manually dilute certified reference materials (CRM) to the required concentration using pipettes.
Limitation of Pipettes for Preparation of Calibration Standards
• Time consuming and requires a skilled laboratory technician to perform.
• Manual, electronic pipettes and standard automated dispensing systems are only repeatable and accurate to volumes in the range of 500nl.
• Non-disposable pipettes require frequent calibration, every few months, in order to maintain their accuracy.
• Potential cross-contamination, especially from washing out if non-disposable.
• Numerous repeat dilutions are needed to prepare calibration standards in the ppb or low ppm range.
• Repeated dilutions increase risk of cross-contamination
• Repeated dilutions waste chemicals and increase the the volume of contaminated liquids for specialist disposal.

PPTL’s unique proprietary and inexpensive disposable dispensing cartridge technology (cost ~€2) means that simultaneous and multiple CRM dispensing can be achieved in a cost-effective way to automate multi ultra-high precision and ultra-high accuracy calibration standard preparation in a matter of minutes.

Website & more info

More info: https://www.polypico.com/.