PEREGRINE X TECHNOLOGY
The core science behind Peregrine originated in particle and astro physics and is now being applied to oil analysis using Capillary Electrophoresis (CE).
Data of much higher quality is produced by the instrument, compared to other systems, in terms of quantification, resolution, sensitivity and repeatability. This significant advance in the technology has been achieved through gathering data on the sample from many hundreds of points, and by using proprietary signal processing algorithms to analyse this large dataset. Our technology is able to produce better quality results than competing analytical systems as a result.
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The technological approach is based on a similar method used in astro physics to determine if a distant light source comprises one or more objects. Data on a distant light source is usually acquired over several hours to see if the light source separates over time. The same approach typically takes anything from 5 – 50 minutes on the Peregrine system.
The key to the technology is the use of a multi-pixel photo diode array (PDA) and the processing of the acquired signals. This large data set is analysed by acquiring data from each band of molecules as it traverses each pixel at a specific time point, allowing for a distance-time correlation to be achieved.
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For complex samples such as crude oil, the key requirement of any analytical technique is that the repeatability and quantitation of the results are good. Peregrine’s multi-pixel approach allows for the signals from several hundred detectors to be amalgamated. It is the averaging of the data from all of the detectors which improves the repeatability and quantitation. This higher quality data enables us to see differences between oil samples.
The system measures the time it takes for any one band of biomolecules to traverse the detector array and the software enables the molecular weight or charge-to-mass ratio to be calculated from its velocity. This greatly improves the signal-to-noise ratio offering molecular imaging which outperforms all competing (single point) CE detection systems.
