New Technology Tests for IEDs

Improvised explosive devices based on peroxide containing materials have increasingly been used in recent years by various terrorist organizations. The main reason is that such peroxide-based explosives can be easily “home-made” using inexpensive, readily available starting materials which can be purchased in most hardware and paint stores, even in bulk quantities.

A new patented peroxide explosive tester - ACRO-P.E.T., developed by Acro, Inc.(www.acrosec.com). The innovative pen-like tester is able to identify peroxide based explosives, such as Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), which may appear in a variety of shapes and forms, including liquid explosives. Peroxide-based explosives are almost impossible to identify since they don't contain nitro groups and are colorless.

ACRO-P.E.T has been designed for rapid, on-site detection of peroxide-based explosives using three chemical solutions, through direct contact with the suspicious substance. Its main advantages are high sensitivity, high selectivity, fast response, simple operation, small size and cost effectiveness. For example, ACRO-P.E.T can detect less than 50 micrograms (0.00005 gram) of TATP.

ACRO-P.E.T. is based on an invention of Professor Ehud Keinan of the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Prof. Keinan is the former Dean of the Technion's Faculty of Chemistry. He is a member of Acro's board of directors and the company's chief scientific advisor. Prof. Keinan is one of the world’s foremost experts in the science of improvised explosives, winner of the Technion award for security science and technology, and consultant to many US and European government agencies in the area of improvised explosives.

Acro’s Advisory Board includes General (ret.) Ehud Barak, former IDF Chief of Staff and former Prime Minister of Israel, Prof. K. Barry Sharpless, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, and Prof. Richard A. Lerner, President and CEO of The Scripps Research Institute, which is considered one of the most influential scientific institutes worldwide.

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