July 8, 2022
Ball Wave Inc.
GL Sciences Inc.

Commencement of Joint Research Exploring Applications for and Commercializing
Key Components of Palm-sized Gas Chromatograph
Ball Wave Inc. (headquarters: Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture (Japan); CEO: Shingo Akao; hereinafter“Ball Wave”) and GL Sciences Inc. (headquarters: Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo; President: Yoshihiro Nagami;hereinafter “GL Sciences”) have commenced joint research exploring applications for and commercializing
key components of the palm-sized gas chromatograph*1, which is a product of Ball Wave.

■ Background
Ball Wave has developed a high-sensitivity high-precision palm-sized gas chromatograph (Fig. 1) for
multiple species of volatile substances, and began selling a palm-sized (A5 size) gas chromatograph(product name SYLPH) in April of this year.

Figure 1. The palm-sized high-performance gas chromatograph “SYLPH”

Figure 2. Structure of Gas Chromatograph1

■ Joint researchBall Wave and GL Sciences have begun joint research with the aims of investigating
commercialization of the metal MEMS column*2, which is a key component of the Ball Wave palmsized gas chromatograph, and to evaluate and explore applications for the ball SAW sensor*3, which
is a key technology of Ball Wave (refer to Fig. 2).
■ Applications of palm-sized gas chromatograph
The palm-sized, high-performance gas chromatograph (SYLPH) is expected to be used for many
applications in various fields, including energy, industry, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and healthcare,as shown below:• Energy/industrial fields: Constituent analysis for evaluating the calorific value of natural gas, constituent
analysis of gases discharged from binders and electrolytes during the fabrication and use of lithium
batteries, VOC analysis, abnormal odor screening, etc.
• Agriculture, forestry, fisheries fields: Reduction of food losses by early detection of deterioration offoods such as fresh fish, fruits, vegetables, and food oils, as well as fermentation process monitoring byaroma analysis of alcohol products and soy sauce, etc.
• Healthcare field: Detection of sick house gases in living environments and contaminants in soil, disease
detection by analysis of various bodily gases (exhalation, body odor, intestinal gas), etc.

Gas constituent analysis of manufacturing

Wholesomeness and ripeness checking of fresh foodprocesses

Fermentation process

Screening for hazardous gases and abnormal odors

monitoringFigure 3. Use cases of “SYLPH”, palm-sized high-performance gas chromatograph2

■ Specifications of palm-sized gas chromatographDetection method

Ball SAW sensor

ColumnMetal column (solenoid type)

Carrier gas

Hydrogen (consultation required for helium, air)Condenser adsorbent

TenaxTAGas sampling

Built-in gas sampling mechanism

Detection limit

5 ppb (xylene)

Startup timeAround 5 min

Measurement time

Around 7 to 8 min

Detectable gas species

C4 to C15 hydrocarbons (Inorganic materials are
not currently possible)

Usage temperature

10 to 40°C

Power supply

100 to 240 VAC, 50/60 Hz

Power consumption

20 W or less

External dimensions

13 × 18 × 8 cm

WeightAround 1 kg

■ About Ball Wave Inc.
Ball Wave is a venture company that was launched by Tohoku University. The company aims to bringabout a safe, secure, clean, and sustainable society through the use of the ball SAW sensor, a chemicalsensor2 developed by the university as an early-stage, innovative technology. The ball SAW sensor iscapable of rapid, highly sensitive detection of trace amounts of moisture and various different gases. Itcombines the high resistance to temperature, pressure, and corrosion of quartz balls with approximately
100 times the sensitivity and response speed of conventional sensors. Ball Wave is currently working
on the development, manufacture, and sale of trace moisture meters and gas chromatographs equippedwith ball SAW sensors.
■ About GL Sciences Inc.
GL Sciences Inc. has been developing, manufacturing, and supplying analysis equipment andrelated consumables to companies and research institutions involved in analysis since its foundation in1968. Recently, the importance of carbon neutrality through SDGs has been growing, and GL
Sciences has been working on the development of products related to contributing to carbon neutrality.
With the demand for analysis equipment to become smaller and have a reduced load on theenvironment per analysis in the future, the development of devices and consumables that can perform
analysis using a small amount of energy in a small space is inevitable, and GL Sciences is working on3

developing metal MEMS columns and ball SAW sensor applications by utilizing the knowledge,
technology, and products that they have accumulated over many years.

*1 A gas chromatograph is an analytical instrument that measures a wide range of species and concentrations by
the phenomenon in which a mixed gas becomes temporally separated as it passes through a flow channel (calleda column) in which a hollow tube is wound around a reel. These are generally large table-top devices. Althoughportable types have also been developed, they are inferior to large models in terms of sensitivity and accuracy.
*2 A highly durable microfabricated column developed by Tohoku University that replaces the fragile and easily
breakable silicon columns with resilient metal in small plate-shaped columns. The new columns are fabricatedusing a microfabrication technology called micro electro mechanical system (MEMS)*3 A surface acoustic wave (SAW) is defined here as a vibration that propagates concentrated at the surface of asolid as it is transmitted across the surface of a ball. The phenomenon was discovered by Professor Emeritus
Yamanaka et al. at Tohoku University.

■ Inquiries

Ball Wave Inc.
Administrative Department
Phone number: +81 3 5979 2357
E-mail: info@ballwave.jp
http://ballwave.jp/english/index.html
GL Sciences Inc.
R&D Department
Phone number: +81 4 2934 2123
E-mail: rd＠gls.co.jp
https://www.glsciences.com/index.html

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