Category: News

 

Meet Kore scientists and challenge us to solve your analytical problems! Over the upcoming months, Kore scientists will be attending several conferences and exhibitions. Do come and meet us face-to-face, to discuss your analytical challenges. We’ll do our best to help!

 

The Joint European Vacuum Conference, European Conference on Surface Science, Vacuum Symposium and RGA User’s Meeting

On 17^th to 21^st June 2024, we’ll be at the Harrogate Convention Centre for this joint European conference, which provides scientists, researchers and engineers from across Europe, and working in academia, national labs and industry, the opportunity to meet and discuss the latest advances in the physics and chemistry of surfaces, plasma physics, gas dynamics, vacuum metrology and vacuum technologies  as well as their industrial applications.

 

International Conference on Ion Beam Modification of Materials

On 1^st to 5^th July 2024, you can find us at Queen Mary University of London, participating in the world’s leading platform for ion beam experts and educators to exchange and report their most recent significant findings in the ion beam community. The scope of the conference ranges from fundamental radiation materials science to industry applications. We expect vibrant interdisciplinary interaction among physicists, chemists, material scientists, engineers, and anybody who is interested in the use of ion beams for surface and material modification in their research and/or industrial application.

 

International Symposium on Gas Kinetics and Related Phenomena

On 15^th to 18^th July 2024, Kore scientists will attend the University of Leeds for this Symposium, which provides an open forum for the presentation and discussion of the latest experimental and theoretical research on a wide range of topics related to gas phase chemical kinetics. The Symposium is organised under the auspices of the Gas Kinetics Interest Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry, covering all aspects of atmospheric and combustion chemistry, as well as astrochemistry and planetary atmospheres, with an increasing role for kinetics of heterogeneous and surface chemistry.

 

Joint Water, Wastewater and Environmental Monitoring (WWEM) and Air Quality and Emissions (AQE) Show

On 9th and 10^th October 2024, come and meet us at the NEC, Birmingham. WWEM focuses on instrumentation and services for water and wastewater process monitoring, and AQE focuses on instrumentation and services for air quality and emissions monitoring. This large show offers a technical program to update delegates on the latest trends, regulations, methods, techniques and technologies. We expect to meet suppliers, regulators and end-users who monitor, test and analyse water and air.

 

With over 30 years at the heart of innovative analysis, we are experts in creating bespoke solutions across a spectrum of applications in vacuum physics, surface analysis and TOF-MS. If you’re attending the above conferences, come and challenge us! We would love to learn about your real-world analytical problems and use our practical and theoretical know-how to create an innovative solution customised for you.

 

Curious? A quick glance at the product pages of our website will give you a good sense of what we offer.

 

We look forward to meeting you.

AIR-QUALITY MONITORING AT THE WINTER OLYMPICS 2022 AND ASIAN GAMES 2023

Air-quality measurements have increasingly become mandatory at large sporting and cultural events, and the Kore PTR 3c is perfectly designed to provide real-time, sensitive air-quality monitoring. Our collaborators and partners in China for volatile organic compound (VOC) and environmental monitoring applications (Beijing SDL Technology Co. Ltd.,) have deployed the Kore PTR 3c for real-time VOC monitoring at major events in China, to support this growing need.

The 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing provided a high-profile opportunity for the PTR 3c to be deployed locally by SDL, to provide the air-quality assurance demanded by the Chinese Environmental Protection Agency. SDL mobilized three continuous-monitoring teams across the Olympic park, reliably generating multiple hours of spatiotemporal VOC profiling for real-time feedback to the Olympic organizing committee.

During the Asian Games and Para Games in 2023, SDL once again responded to the call from the Asian Games Committee to ensure air quality around Hangzhou, China, with their vehicles monitoring VOCs using the Kore PTR 3c, as well as other atmospheric pollutants such as PM2.5, NOx and SO2. Kore’s PTR 3c instruments have been deployed for measurement of VOCs released from industrial parks across China and globally, as well as onboard drone and aircraft flights to monitor atmospheric air quality.

We are excited to be working closely with SDL on these important Kore PTR 3c deployments for major sporting and cultural events and look forward to continuing our successful partnership.

More information on the Kore PTR 3c can be found here: PTR-MS – PTR 3c | Kore Technology

 

As well as being highly detrimental to marine ecosystems, oil spills can have heavy financial implications for marine operators. Oil spill researcher Dr. Brian Mitchell, at MERL-Consulting SAS (France), used Kore’s portable mass spectrometer, the MS-200, to investigate the possibility of analysing oil spills in real time out in the field (quite literally). Rapid analysis or ‘fingerprinting’ of the oil can pinpoint the origin of the spill, expediting intervention and thereby reducing the financial and environmental toll of the spill.

MERL-Consulting and Pierre Briallart of Expert Pollution Control collaborated with Kore scientist Fraser Reich to develop their analytical protocol on the CEDRE artificial beach. They then carried out their experimental measurements at the site of a real pipeline spill that had occurred two years previously.

Mitchell and colleagues found that the MS-200 was able to identify the spectrum of the oil pollution, even though the oil was two years old. Brian Mitchell presented his important work at the 45th Arctic and Marine Oilspill Program (AMOP) Technical Seminar on Environmental Contamination and Response, hosted by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). This seminar provides a significant international forum for professionals working in the field of oil and hazardous materials spills, facilitating the transfer of scientific results and linking the operational and research communities. Kore is proud to support the valuable work of Brian Mitchell and his colleagues in this endeavour.

Publication: Mitchell JBA, Le Garrec J-L, Le Bris N, Briallart P, Reich F, Le Floch S and Jézéquel R (2023) In-situ Identification of Spilled Oils Using Mass Spectrometry. In: Proceedings of the Forty-Fifth AMOP Technical Seminar, Environment and Climate Change. Ottawa, ON, Canada. pp470-480.

 

 

Main image: The CEDRE artificial beach provides a controlled environment for marine and coastal experiments.

Left image: Fraser Reich (Kore Technology, left) and James Brian Mitchell (MERL-Consulting, right) at the CEDRE artificial beach.

Right image: Tests using the Kore MS-200 being carried out by Pierre Briallart (Expert Pollution Control Co.) at the site of the pipeline spill.

 

In collaboration with Prof Justin Lawley of the University of Innsbruck, we have customised and manufactured our transportable EI-TOF-MS (Compact EI-TOF-MS | Kore Technology) to provide real-time analysis of breath gases and VOCs during physiology experiments with millisecond delay times and customised analogue data output to 3^rd party control and signal processing software.

As this experiment is about the rapidly changing concentrations of gases and VOCs, the TOF-MS is ideally suited to this measurement with the added benefit that Justin and his team are able to identify any unknown gases and VOCs in post-experiment data analysis, something which is not achievable with quadrupole or magnetic sector instruments.

We look forward to seeing the results of these experiments and continuing our positive relationship with Justin and his research group.

 

KORE EXHIBITS AT MICROBIOLOGY SOCIETY CONFERENCE 2022 – NORWICH

Kore Technology were proud to be a sponsor and exhibitor at the recent “Microbial Cycling of Volatile Organic Compounds” conference organised by the Microbiology Society at the John Innes Centre, University of East Anglia. We brought a PTR 3c instrument to demonstrate the possibilities of real-time VOC sampling to the biological and microbial academic community. 

After discussing the benefits of the Kore PTR 3c with researchers, we even had the opportunity to analyse some samples for a researcher (Libby Hanwell) who demonstrated to her colleagues the ease of sampling and analysis of the VOCs in her experiment. We are excited to continue to work with Libby and other researchers at the University of East Anglia and look forward to seeing the results of their research.

More information on the Microbiology Society can be found here: Homepage | Microbiology Society and more information on the Kore PTR 3c here: PTR-MS – PTR 3c | Kore Technology

 

We have recently undertaken a project to design and build a customised time-of-flight mass spectrometer system for research into laser-ablated plumes for the HiLASE Centre in Czech Republic. The project BIATRI of the HiLASE Centre is aimed at exploring novel pathways of matter evolution by excitation of matter with short and ultra-short laser pulses of moderate intensities. This will permit the design of materials with new and unique properties.

A key diagnostic instrument for the setup was a versatile Kore reflectron time-of-flight spectrometer. Using TOF-MS, laser ablation plumes can be characterised in a number of modes. For this current embodiment, the system will analyse positive and negative ions using a dual microchannel plate (DMCP assembly). The TOF flight tube has been designed to hold an alternative 10kV post-accelerated detector (discrete dynode design), which may be swapped in for positive ions only. The instrument has been designed to operate in multiple ionisation modes for neutral molecules: electron impact ionisation, and laser post-ionization.

We have designed this custom instrument on a separate, transportable bench with table top at the appropriate height to permit the instrument to be brought up to the client’s experiment chamber.

We are excited to continue to work with Professor Bulgakov and the HiLASE Centre and look forward to seeing the results of their research using our Kore Custom TOF-MS instrument.

 

During these challenging and unprecedented times, our main priority at Kore remains our customers. We are proud to announce that for now we are continuing business as usual. The safety and well-being of our staff is of the utmost importance, and so most of our staff are working remotely to be with their families and minimise risks, but are fully contactable as usual. Some key staff are still in the building, and we have increased our health and safety standards in line with the most up-to-date government advice. We have implemented social distancing and have increased hand washing and use of PPE. We are continuing to monitor the situation and we will be transparent with our customers on any effects on delivery times or any other issues.

 

We at Kore Technology are delighted to announce the strengthening of our relationship with Photonis Scientific Inc. Moving forward, we will be the sole distributors for non OEM customers in the UK looking to purchase products for Charged Particle Detection. For any customer looking to purchase these products in the UK, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

The relationship between Photonis Scientific Inc. and Kore extends back into the 1980s. We have been working with Photonis Scientific Inc. since its inception as a company, with Burle Industries before they transformed into Photonis Scientific Inc., and with Galileo before they were even acquired by Burle.

We have had a long and successful working relationship already, and we are excited for this new venture together.

 

Kore Technology are excited to present our latest development: a fully transportable PTR-TOF-MS, the PTR 3c. The Compact PTR 3c is a new soft chemical ionisation tool for sensitive analysis of VOCs in ambient air. Using soft chemical ionisation, the time of flight mass spectrometer can monitor all masses in parallel, allowing the maximum amount of information to be collected. The Kore PTR 3c has been developed to be transportable and can be taken on-site (mains power required), with full computer control of instrument parameters.

Some of the PTR 3c’s impressive specifications are:

• Concentration range: 50ppm to ppt levels
• Sensitivity: >200c/s/ppb VOCs (measured with Benzene)
• Detection limit: ~30ppt
• Response time to concentration changes: ~100ms
• Mass resolution of ~4,000M/δM achievable
• Mass range: unlimited

 

Visit our product page to learn more, and check out this application note to see how we took full advantage of the PTR 3c’s transportability.

 

In September 2019, Kore were delighted to welcome a delegation from the China Association of Environmental Protection Industry to visit our company. The delegation was made up of 22 people representing a series of environmental associations within China.

One of our colleagues from Beijing SDL Technology Co Ltd, who had been staying at Kore for a week, gave a short introduction of Kore, highlighted how our products have been used in environmental monitoring and explained our exciting future in this area.

Our Projects Manager Dr Fraser Reich then took the delegation to our laboratory to demonstrate some of equipment working live, in a way they may not get a chance to experience often. Finally, we all enjoyed lunch together at the Doubletree by Hilton in the nearby Cambridge city centre.

Especially given our ongoing work with SDL, we were very pleased at the opportunity to continue strengthening the good relationship between Kore and China.