A Really Good Hammer: Quantification of Mass Transfer Using Perfluorocarbon Tracers (475th Brookhaven Lecture)

Conference · Wed Feb 15 04:00:00 EST 2012

OSTI ID:1132885

Watson, Tom ^[1]

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1. BNL Environmental Sciences, Tracer Technology Group

Brookhaven Lab’s perfluorocarbon tracer (PFT) technology can be viewed as a hammer looking for nails. But, according to Tom Watson, leader of the Lab’s Tracer Technology Group in the Environmental Research and Technology Division (ERTD), “It’s a really good hammer!” The colorless, odorless and safe gases have a number of research uses, from modeling how airborne contaminants might move through urban canyons to help first responders plan their response to potential terrorist attacks and accidents to locating leaks in underground gas pipes. Their extremely low background level — detectable at one part per quadrillion — allows their transport to be easily tracked. Lab researchers used PFTs during the 2005 Urban Dispersion Program field studies in New York City, gathering data to help improve models of how a gas or chemical release might move around Manhattan’s tall buildings and canyons. Closer to home, scientists also used PFTs to make ventilation measurements in Bldg. 400 on the Lab site to provide data to test air flow models used in determining the effects of passive and active air exchange on the levels of indoor and outdoor air pollution, and to determine the effects of an accidental or intentional release of hazardous substances in or around buildings.

• Research Organization: BNL (Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States))
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-98CH10886
• OSTI ID: 1132885
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ATMOSPHERIC TRANSPORT AND DISPERSION
MASS TRANSFER
PERFLUROCARBON TRACER
PFT