Data-Driven Disinsection

What is the Vector Secure technology capable of measuring?

Vector Secure has been demonstrated to measure the amount of residual pesticide on surfaces, in particular permethrin. The technology can be adapted to determine other pesticides, as well as some herbicides and other semi-volatile organic substances which are UV absorbing.

How does it do it? What techniques are used?

It essentially replaces the current manual surface wiping sampling technique with an automated wiping procedure controlled by the instrument.  The surface wipe built into the sampling head is automatically wetted with an appropriate solvent specific for the substances to be measured which is compatible with the surface material, then the operator places the sampling head against the surface of interest for a predefined time, where the wipe material is moved in a circular motion to remove any residual organic material on the surface.  The sampling head is returned to the instrument, where the residual organic material on the wipe is extracted and automatically analysed by spectrometric analysis.  The on-board data processing software calculates the amount of residual organic material per square metre of surface then sends the results to a client server via cloud based software.

Vector Secure requires no manual processing of the sample or calculations to determine the amount of residue on the surface.  All necessary solvent(s) are stored within the instrument and spent solvent is recovered for disposal after each sampling campaign.

The key to the utility of the Vector Secure unit is the reliability, precision and accuracy of the spectrometric analysis method and hardware, as well as the standardisation of sampling technique.  The measurement takes less than 5 minutes per location, allowing for a larger number of measurements to be taken to fully characterise the extent of surface coverage of organic materials.  The instrument can be pre-programmed to instruct the operator as to the locations to be characterised, removing the guesswork from the sampling process.

What level of accuracy does it have?

The accuracy of the spectrometric analysis is likely to be better than ±5%, depending on the extent of interfering substances and contaminants on the surface of interest.  The overall accuracy of the technique will be dependent on the nature of the surface being tested, with hard, non-porous surfaces anticipated to show better accuracy than fabrics or carpets.  Some optimisation of the sampling methodology may be required for porous surfaces, which can be done ahead of a measurement campaign. 

Importantly, the accuracy of the Vector Secure is likely to be similar or potentially superior to conventional manual wipe sampling based methods, which are subject to variability introduced from the manual processes involved.  Atamo is developing protocols to assess the accuracy of the Vector Secure for particular types of surfaces and target residue substances, which can be implemented as part of a wider measurement program.  Those protocols will allow the measurement uncertainty to be determined as per ISO specifications, which is essential for interpretation of results from a sampling campaign in respect of coverage of surface residues.

What applications can it address?

Vector Secure is well suited to assessing residues on non-porous surfaces including metal, glass, hard ceramics, some timber and most plastics and laminate surface finishes.  The accuracy of the measurement is reduced for assessing residues on porous surfaces such as fabrics, carpets, some ceramics, rock, softwood timber, etc. Optimisation of the Vector Secure for a particular surface material and the surface residues of interest may be required ahead of a sampling campaign. The Atamo Vector Secure team can assist or carry out optimisation tests as required by the client for the particular application.

Ideally, sampling is carried out on a dry surface, that is relatively free of dust contamination.  Both indoor and outdoor surfaces can be measured, however, the sampling must be carried out with low air flows over the surface which may preclude outdoor sampling during windy conditions.

Current applications have been focussed on vector control assessments of pesticide residues on hard surfaces and fabrics.  Other applications likely to be well suited to the Vector Secure include residual anti-cancer drugs from chemotherapy treatment areas in hospitals and clinics, other pesticides, herbicides, some illicit drugs, semi-volatile air pollutant residues,  which may remain after patient treatment has concluded for the day to be removed by cleaning.  It is anticipated that the efficacy of cleaning can be tested by surface sampling and analysis using the Vector Secure.

As indicated, the core technology of the Vector Secure provides the flexibility to assess other applications where residual organics are present on surfaces, where a staged development and optimisation program can be implemented to initially demonstrate the capability of the technology for the new application ahead of a measurement campaign.  This approach affords the best quality outcomes for assessment of surface residues.