Horizon Technology started out as a company offering instruments that work with SPE disks but now offers the disks themselves. At the time of the company’s formation in 1993, SPE disks were a new alternative to SPE cartridges. “Disks are simply much faster when processing large samples, and more tolerant of sediment that might be present in the sample,” explained Horizon Technology Director of Marketing and International Sales Marc Hamel.

New Hampshire–based Horizon Technology has 40 employees. Its instruments have applications in water analysis in the environmental, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries. “Our focused markets tend to be in the environmental sector, and in this area we see growth in the analysis of contaminants in drinking water and wastewater,” said Mr. Hamel. The company’s customers include large commercial labs and government and state water monitoring labs.

The firm offers seven sample preparation products: four instrument platforms for automated sample prep and three SPE disk product lines. The company’s top-selling products are the SPE-DEX 4790 automated disk extractor for GC/MS or HPLC analysis of any type of water and the SPE-DEX 3000XL automated oil and grease extractor for wastewater. “[These products sell well because] of their uniqueness and ability to quickly and efficiently process via SPE large-volume water samples, even samples that contain high analyte concentrations or heavy particulates,” said Mr. Hamel.

The firm was founded when 3M, which developed the first SPE disk, sought help developing instruments to work with the disks. Horizon Technology initially offered extractor systems to work with the disks. But when customers complained that the instruments no longer worked with the disks due to changes in formulation or the use of different sorbent materials, the company decided to make the disk itself. “As a company, we decided that that didn’t make sense,” said Mr. Hamel. “Let’s start making our own consumables that we can ensure will always work with our instruments.” The firm’s first SPE disk, the Pacific SPE Disk, which extracts oil and grease from wastewater, was introduced in 2003.

Control of the manufacturing process is something that Mr. Hamel believes sets Horizon Technology apart from other SPE providers. The company designs and manufactures all of its products in-house. “[Our approach] starts with fabrication of SPE disks, but it also involves perfecting the SPE method steps and other subtle techniques that lead up to final analysis (GC/MS, HPLC or LC/MS) that yield optimized recovery of target analytes,” he said. “As an instrument and disk manufacturer with a focus on proper chemistry techniques, we supply products and application know-how that gives lab managers a total turnkey solution to their environmental sample extraction needs.”

Though Horizon Technology will stay focused on environmental water analysis, it will expand its product offerings for other markets. “We also seek to bring current and new products into the life science markets to tap into much larger global market opportunities,” said Mr. Hamel. “We will specifically target food and beverage, forensics and toxicology, and pharmaceutical research markets where sample prep for GC/MS, LC/MS and HPLC analysis is employed.”