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

Cone Penetrometer for Subsurface Heavy Metals Detection. Semiannual report, November 1, 1996--March 31, 1997

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/620634· OSTI ID:620634
Surface and subsurface contamination of soils by heavy metals, including Pb, Cr, Cu, Zn, and Cd, has become an area of concern for many industrial and government organizations (1). Conventional sampling and analysis techniques for soil provide a high degree of sensitivity and selectivity for individual analytes. However, obtaining a representative sampling and analysis from a particular site using conventional techniques is time consuming and costly (2). Additionally, conventional methods are difficult to implement in the field for in situ and/or real-time applications. Therefore, there is a need for characterization and monitoring techniques for heavy metals in soils which allow cost-effective, rapid, in situ measurements. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been used to successfully measure metals content in a variety of matrices (3-15) including soil (16,17). Under the Department of Energy (DOE) Federal Energy Technology Center (FETC) Industry Program, Science {ampersand} Engineering Associates (SEA) is developing a subsurface cone penetrometer (CPT) probe for heavy metals detection that employs LIBS (18). The LIES-CPT unit is to be applied to in situ, real-time sampling and analysis of heavy metals in soil. As part of its contract with DOE FETC, SEA is scheduled to field test its LIBS-CPT system in September 1997.
Research Organization:
North Dakota Univ. Grand Forks Energy And Environmental Research Center (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
FC21-94MC31388
OSTI ID:
620634
Report Number(s):
DOE/MC/31388--5781; ON: DE97005479
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English