Evaluation of a portable GC/MS for screening organic contaminants in soil

Conference · Tue Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5149901

Harrison, W; Reed, L L ^[1]; Sandberg, S A ^[2]; Anuszewski, C L ^[3]

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1. Armed Services Technical Information Agency, Arlington, VA (United States)
2. Hydro-Terra, Inc., Columbia, MD (United States)
3. Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, MD (United States). Baltimore District

In an effort to speed up clearance of building-construction sites in the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground. Maryland, Argonne National Laboratory leased a Bruker Instruments Mobile Environmental Monitor (MEM) to analyze for organics in soils. The MEM is a portable gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS). Argonne's MEM was mounted in a Chevy Blazer and driven to each site of interest. The Bruker analytical system uses a probe'' with a thermal devolatilization ring on the end and short GC column inside to permit rapid assessment (via GC/MS) of characteristic fragmentation masses in small samples of soil as soon as they are removed from the ground. Volatiles and semivolatiles can be qualitatively determined with the probe and MS. quantitation of volatiles and semivolatiles is handled by substituting a GC oven (and its contained 30-m-long GC column) for the probe.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOD; Department of Defense, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 5149901
• Report Number(s): ANL/CP-75977; CONF-9204110--5; ON: DE92014767
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400102 -- Chemical & Spectral Procedures
400105 -- Separation Procedures
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540220* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHROMATOGRAPHY
CONTAMINATION
DATA PROCESSING
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
ORGANIC WASTES
PROCESSING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOILS
SPECTROSCOPY
VOLATILITY
WASTES