Publications

The AQUASCAN, a commercially available, fully automated purge-and-trap gas chromatograph from Sentex Systems Inc., was implemented and evaluated as an in-field, automated monitoring system of contaminated groundwater at an active DOE remediation site in Pinellas, FL. Though the AQUASCAN is designed as a stand alone process analytical unit, implementation at this site required additional hardware. The hardware included a sample dilution system and a method for delivering standard solution to the gas chromatograph for automated calibration. As a result of the evaluation the system was determined to be a reliable and accurate instrument. The AQUASCAN reported concentration values for methylene chloride, trichloroethylene, and toluene in the Pinellas ground water were within 20% of reference laboratory values.

Traditionally, pyrolysis combined with infrared, IR, detection of the decomposition products for the analysis of small (<1 mg) samples has been limited due to the size and geometry of commercially available pyrolysis chambers. To reduce the sample size requirements for pyrolysis-IR a system has been designed and built that allows various microgram sized polymer samples to be examined. The design incorporates a commercial pyrolysis system with a small chamber built from readily available parts. Minimal modifications of these components are required to build the system. The micropyrolyzer has been used to successfully identify various filled epoxy samples, such as three Epon 828 samples: 0.46 mg of alumina filled; 0.15 mg of mica filled; and 0.28 mg of glass microballoon, GMB, filled. 7 refs., 6 figs.