Entech Instruments, Inc

Entech Instruments is a leading developer and manufacturer of analytical instrumentation that supports professionals around the world in the Environmental, Industrial Hygiene, Food & Beverage, Product Testing, Forensic, and Clinical Analysis markets.

We specialize in the creation of inert sample collection equipment as well as GC and GC/MS sample preparation and introduction technologies. Many of these products feature Silonite^®,
our proprietary ceramic coating that is designed to render stainless steel tubing, canisters, and other sampling equipment as inert as a GC column.We provide our customers with complete solutions and support for “analytical grade” air monitoring products and headspace GC/MS inlet systems that can sample, store, and recover virtually all gas chromatography compatible compounds.

Over the past 2 decades, Entech has contributed more to the field of sample preconcentration than any other company. Innovations in sample preparation for GC/MS analysis include:

• Microscale Purge & Trap
• Extended Cold Trap Dehydration
• Large Volume Headspace
• Pulsed Vacuum Extraction

Entech Instruments, Inc. started in 1989 and was the first to introduce multi-canister automation for the analysis of Environmental Air Samples collected in Tedlar® bags and SUMMA Canisters.

Over the years, Entech has continued to perfect the science and art of collecting, storing, and analyzing volatile and semi-volatile chemicals by GC and GCMS.

At the heart of this development is Entech’s proprietary Silonite® surface treatment. Silonite® makes our sampling devices and GCMS sample handling systems as inert as a GC column, providing better recovery of a wider range of compounds than ever before.

Silonite® can be applied to any stainless steel or glass surface, virtually eliminating the adsorption and reactions that can occur on metal and untreated glass surfaces.

This has been extremely important in creating headspace inlet and preconcentration systems for monitoring natural products where complete characterization requires recovery of compounds that are marginally GC compatible, including formaldehyde which can be preconcentrated and analyzed quantitatively without derivitization.

Entech continues to push the envelope with the introduction of new analytical techniques, such as Active SPME and now Large Volume SPME, which promise to allow food chemists and industry in general to obtain a better picture of the headspace composition of their products.  The ability to handle sample vials as large as 1000cc, with optional heating and mixing prior to headspace analysis, allows better statistical accuracy and the ability to analyze many sample types as a whole, rather than processed down to fit into a small vial.

Entech continues to listen to customer’s requests and recommendations, which has been important in making products that work in the real world, rather than just on test standards.

Entech will continue to advance all areas of analytical chemistry involved with GCMS sample introduction, utilizing our experienced staff and analytical know-how to provide the most quantitative technology available for measurement of headspace and environmentally collected air samples.

Chemical airborne vapors from man-made sources constitute potential human health hazards, as well as having adverse effects on the Environment as a whole.

More and more attention is being given to monitoring levels of volatile chemicals from PPM down to sub-PPB levels, as chronic exposure even at low levels may lead to a number of different health conditions, including cancer.

Volatile and Semi-volatile chemicals both in our outdoor and indoor air must be considered in determining overall human exposure.

Measurement of these chemicals in air is usually performed by Gas Chromatography / Mass Spectrometry to quantify concentration levels of individual compounds to determine the overall exposure risks.

72002Usually, levels are too low for direct GCMS detection, requiring sample enrichment or pre-concentration for detection down to PPB (parts per billion) and sub-PPB levels. “Whole Air” field collection of air samples into inert canisters continues to be the Gold Standard for obtaining accurate air monitoring results, using evacuated containers which are opened in the field to collect the air sample, followed by laboratory analysis under reliable and controlled conditions.

Alternative approaches using thermal desorption tubes modify the sample in the field, exposing the collected chemicals to a more reactive environment which often results in inconsistent recovery during thermal desorption in the laboratory.

MiniCans_Flattened_LensEntech is the world leader in providing canister monitoring technology based on US EPA Methods TO-14A and TO-15. Virtually hundreds of volatile and semi-volatile compounds can be recovered using this approach, making canisters the most universal technique for measuring virtually every GC compatible airborne compound of interest. Entech places a proprietary ceramic called Silonite® on the inside of sampling canisters to make them extremely inert, allowing the recovery of more compounds than any other air sampling device.