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Lead and other harmful materials are making their way into all kinds of consumer products, from toys to cell phones, and it has sent manufacturers scrambling for ways to test their materials. What they usually find is expensive, laboratory-like machines designed for more accuracy than most businesses will ever need.
Drew Hession-Kunz, a former investor and CFO at high-end testing equipment maker Innov-X Inc., has a solution — a handheld material analyzer for under $10,000.
Partnering with Bob Allard, the co-founder and CEO of North Andover-based software engineering firm Extension Engine Inc., Hession-Kunz has launched i-Nalysis LLC to make and market the new devices. The pair, along with three other co-founders, have ponied up an undisclosed amount of funding to get the venture off the ground, and they say the product is getting a close look from industry insiders and potential customers. They expect to begin making their first shipments in the coming months.
“With globalization comes the fact that you are no longer buying materials from your neighbor,” said Hession-Kunz. “No one knows where their stuff is coming from, and that means people need to be able to test easier, with smaller equipment and without a degree in chemistry.”
I-Nalysis’ device is based on X-ray technology similar to what Hession-Kunz worked with at Innov-X. That Innov-X technology uses X-ray tubes as the foundation for a complex analysis tool capable of finding elements on a parts per billion scale. However, i-Nalysis is using a cheaper technology, based on what are called “pyroelectric crystals,” which can emit X-rays when heated. It can identify inorganic elements on a parts per million basis — but that is enough for testing toys for lead paint, finding metal content for recyclers or identifying the content of materials used in manufacturing, the company said.
By connecting to a computer via a USB cable or wireless connection, the analyzer can give the percentage of each element, such as copper, gold, mercury and lead, and store it in a database that can track the content of each component of a given product.
Another local company, Wilmington-based Ahura Scientific Inc., has built a business on a similar model by providing handheld chemical identification products at the other end of the spectrum — using Raman and FTIR spectroscopy — to test for compounds such as explosives, narcotics and chemical warfare agents in homeland security and law enforcement applications.
While the two companies play in different fields, Doug Kahn, chairman and CEO of Ahura Scientific, said easy, affordable, portable chemical identification is crucial in a number of environments outside of the laboratory — from local police departments to drug inspection agents — and demand for such equipment is expected grow.
With a staff of five, i-Nalysis is still in its early stages, but says it is on the way to building its niche, with interested, but unnamed, parties in both private industry and government agencies.
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