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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Superfund innovative technology evaluation (site) program evaluation report for antox BTX water screen (BTX immunoassay)

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5386148

The results of a demonstration of a portable immunoassay for the detection of benzene, toluene, and xylene(s) (BTX) are described in the report. Seventy-nine field samples were obtained from monitoring wells at several sites with gasoline contaminated ground water. Sample splits were analyzed on-site by the BTX immunoassay and in the laboratory by gas chromatography (GC) using EPA Method 8020. The BTX immunoassay was rapid and simple to use. It performed well in identifying high level contamination and gasoline contaminated samples having BTX concentrations greater than 100 ppb. It did not fully meet the claims of the developer of identifying contamination levels down to 25 ppb BTX. Two field samples determined by GC to have between 25 and 100 ppb BTX failed to be classified correctly by the immunoassay. Results from quality assurance samples with BTX concentrations of 2.5, 25, and 100 ppb also showed that false negative results would be expected at higher than a 5 percent rate when BTX contamination levels were between 25 and 100 ppb. However, for samples with higher BTX levels, the immunoassay gave excellent results. Two field samples yielded false positive results compared to GC values, but these samples showed signs of low-level gasoline contamination.

Research Organization:
Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Co., Inc., Las Vegas, NV (United States)
OSTI ID:
5386148
Report Number(s):
PB-93-218337/XAB; CNN: EPA-68-CO-0049
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English