TOFWERK furthers its commitment to delivering cutting edge technology with our latest TOF instrument – the mipTOF. This field-deployable instrument for real-time trace metal analysis in air delivers highly sensitive measurements essential for source apportionment, air toxics monitoring, and airborne particulate characterization.
The mipTOF installed in a mobile monitoring van. Image Credit: TOFWERK
A New Solution for Hazardous Air Pollutants
Ambient air contains air toxics, also referred to as toxic air pollutants or hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), which can pose significant health risks. These pollutants include a diverse range of compounds, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as well as metals. Emitted from various sources under challenging conditions, they are often present at trace levels. Accurately measuring these HAPs, which may undergo rapid changes, demands instruments that are highly sensitive, fast, and robust.
TOFWERK is known to provide advanced solutions for real-time measurement of VOCs. Our TOFs are widely used for online air monitoring, thanks to their ability to simultaneously resolve and monitor a large range of VOCs at sub-ppb levels with exceptional time resolution. Now, the mipTOF offers an innovative solution to enhance our air monitoring capabilities by providing a field deployable solution to measure metal-containing aerosols in the environment.
The mipTOF combines a microwave inductively coupled atmospheric-pressure plasma (MICAP, RADOM Corp.) with a TOFWERK TOFMS instrument, enabling advanced real-time quantification of trace elements and metals in air. The plasma source operates with nitrogen (N2) gas or ambient air. Its on-site compressed gas generation enables stationery and mobile operation. Air samples are introduced directly into the system, allowing continuous particulate analysis with detection limits suitable for individual aerosol particles. The mipTOF detects metal-containing particles at atto- to nanogram levels, covering ultrafine size ranges (PM0.1, PM2.5, PM10). It also provides bulk element concentrations with detection limits from 0.01 to 10 ng/m3 in just 30 seconds. With a 10-second integration time, the mipTOF significantly outperforms XRF-based instruments, which require 30 minutes for similar detection. Quantitative detection spans six orders of magnitude, delivering comprehensive mass detection for improved source apportionment.
mipTOF Features
The mipTOF offers real-time analysis and comprehensive mass detection of nearly all particle elements, enabling clearer elemental correlations and improved source apportionment compared to other systems on the market.
- High-Power Plasma Source: The Microwave-Sustained Inductively Coupled Atmospheric Plasma (MICAP, RADOM Instruments), operable with nitrogen (N2) gas or air.
- Field Deployable: On-site generation of compressed gas eliminates the need for gas cylinders.
- Real-Time Sampling: The mipTOF can directly sample air in real-time, allowing for continuous particulate analysis. With a 10-second integration time, the mipTOF outperforms state-of-the-art XRF-based instruments, which require 30 minutes for comparable detection.
- Maximum Sensitivity: Limits of detection and time resolution suitable for detecting elements and metals in individual aerosol particles. Limits of detection in individual particles at attogram to femtogram levels.
Mobile Monitoring: Laboratory Performance Anywhere
TOFWERK is a global leader in mobile mass spectrometry, having deployed instruments to remote field sites across all seven continents and aboard various mobile research platforms, such as vans, aircraft, and ocean vessels.
Mobile measurements with the mipTOF enable the precise localization of aerosol events in both time and space, and changes in particle population composition can reveal varying source contributions across different time periods. The mipTOF packages highly sensitive and ultra-fast plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometry in a compact, durable, and field deployable design. Its size, power consumption, and the possibility to generate the required gases for the plasma source on-site make it accessible for use in mobile applications. Advanced data analysis techniques applied to mipTOF data allow for time-resolved source separation.
From mobile labs and industrial monitoring vans to roadside stations, the mipTOF delivers lab-quality, real-time trace element and metal analysis of air—anywhere.