Neutron based Elemental Analysis Technology

ended

Accumulations of hazardous substances in soil, water or air, mean a serious threat for society. To prevent damage from population, there is a trend of applying stricter and stricter statutory thresholds, especially for heavy metals. AiNT has developed an innovative non-destructive and non-contact assay for multi-element detection using neutrons as probes. The technology enables the determination of heavy metal contents and other contaminats in large environmental samples in a minimal time. Potential customers for measurement services are companies in the agriculture industry, environmental authorities or industrial companies who need information on the elemental composition of their samples. The market of environmental analysis has a volume of approximately two billion € in Germany (2014) and has been steadily growing at an average rate of 10 % per year between 2003 and 2010. The measurement system is currently built in a technical centre of AiNT. Analysis results are created automatically by the developed evaluation software. Results are digitally available and can be uploaded to a cloud-based database for direct access and post-processing. Objectives of the feasibility study (phase 1) are the following. Firstly, an extensive market study will be conducted. From this study, the submarket for market entry is chosen. Furthermore, we choose a business partner for marketing and sales. We study measurement concepts and necessary adaptions of the design of the measuring system to general conditions and specific needs of the chosen submarket. All this leads to the elaboration of the business model. The preferred option is to offer measurements as a service. The feasibility study will clarify the chances of prospect of the development for environmental analysis and will identify the economically most attractive submarket for business activities. Alternatives to the preferred model, the direct marketing of the measurement system as a product, will also be investigated.