Portable sensor for hazardous waste
We are beginning the second phase of a three and a half year program designed to develop a portable monitor for sensitive hazardous waste detection. The ultimate goal of the program is to develop our concept to the prototype instrument level. Our monitor will be a compact, portable instrument that will allow real-time, in situ, monitoring of hazardous wastes. Further, our instrument can show whether cleanup technologies are successful at reducing hazardous materials concentrations below regulated levels, and will provide feedback to allow changes in remediation operations, if necessary, to enhance their efficacy. Our approach is to excite atomic and molecular fluorescence by the technique of active nitrogen energy transfer (ANET). The active nitrogen is made in a dielectric-barrier (D-B) discharge in nitrogen at atmospheric pressure. Only a few emission lines or bands are excited for each hazardous species, so spectral resolution requirements are greatly simplified over those of other spectroscopic techniques. The dielectric-barrier discharge is compact, 1 to 2 cm in diameter and 1 to 10 cm long. During the first phase of the program we demonstrated that a variety of hazardous species could be detected by the technique of active nitrogen energy transfer (ANET) excitation of atomic and molecular fluorescence. Species investigated included heavy metals, Hg, Cr, and Se, both chlorinated and non-chlorinated organics, and uranyl compounds. For most of these species we demonstrated sensitivity limits for their detection at parts per billion (ppb) levels. Our principal goals for this second phase of the program are to develop and breadboard test instrument components and to design a prototype instrument suitable for construction and evaluation in the final phase of the program. A secondary goal is to extend the ANET technology to encompass a greater number of hazardous species, primarily additional heavy metals and radionuclides.
- Research Organization:
- Physical Sciences, Inc., Andover, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC21-93MC30175
- OSTI ID:
- 155122
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/MC/30175-96/CO588; CONF-9510108-6; ON: DE96003456; TRN: 96:000548
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Environmental technology development through industry partnership, Morgantown, WV (United States), 3-5 Oct 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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