An Air Analysis Method for Extremely Toxic Atmospheres

Title:	An Air Analysis Method for Extremely Toxic Atmospheres An Air Analysis Method for Extremely Toxic Atmospheres
Topic 1:	Real-Time Detection Systems
Presentation Start:	5/22/2013 11:30 AM
Presentation End:	5/22/2013 12:00 PM
Author Block:	J. Driscoll, PID Analyzers, LLC, Sandwich, MA; P. Smith, OSHA Labs, Salt Lake City, UT.
Presentation Number:	SR-129-04
Abstract:	L to R: P. Smith and J. Driscoll working on GC Method Developemt Objective: There is a need to know the exact composition of the air that workers will be breathing in confined space areas like coal mines. The conventional four gas analyzer does not have the accuracy, range or a sufficient number of sensors to assess extremely toxic atmospheres. Method Confined space atmospheres are typically measured using four gas meters for LEL, O2, CO, H2S. Confined spaces where unknown gases (other inert or toxic gases) may be present include tunnels, manholes, utility vaults, pumping stations, storage tanks, coal mines etc.  While it is okay to know that an atmosphere is possibly deficient in O2, it is also important to know what other gases are present. A portable, gas chromatograph (GC) with a TCD can positively detect (with no interferences) O2, N2, CO, CO2, & CH4 with typical detection limits of 200 ppm and a dynamic range > 104. A second channel (parallel column) with a flame ionization detector can detect ppm levels of methane and C2 hydrocarbons that are present. Results We have been able to modify a portable GC so that we can have dual parallel columns that provide accurate and reproducible flows for either 2 packed columns or a packed and 30M capillary column. The TCD precision results were excellent as shown in Table I below: Table I Precision (10 results) N2 O2 H O2 L H2 H H2 L ppm CH4 ppm; Avg 80.07 20.78 1.13 4.46 4803 50.70; std dev 0.649 0.111 0.025 0.039 52.1 5.15; CV % 0.81 0.54 2.18 0.88 1.09 10.16 ;Conclusions We have combined a “fixed gas”-TCD column and packed column for C1 and C2 HC- FID . This latter configuration provides an accurate confined space and toxic gas analyzer for coal mines and other extremely toxic atmospheres. Here are a few slides that will be presented on May 22, 2013 at #AIHCE in Real-Time Detection Systems:

Sunday morning posters with coffee & networking #ACSNOLA

Join us for coffee and networking at the Sunday morning poster session at #ACSNOLA hosted by the American Chemical Society Division of Small Chemical Businesses at the Doubltree Hotel 300 Canal Street Room Crescent B 

8:30am-9:30am

How social media marketing influences sales at a small chemical business

This presentation has been accepted for the technical program of the 245th ACS National Meeting that will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, April 7-11, 2013.

PAPER ID: 20037
PAPER TITLE: “How social media marketing influences sales at a small chemical business”

DIVISION: SCHB: Division of Small Chemical Businesses
SESSION: SCHB Poster Session Sunday Morning April 7, 2013 
PRESENTATION FORMAT: Poster

PID Analyzers, LLC launched their social media marketing plan in November of 2008 with a monthly E-Newsletter utilizing Constant ContactTM. One year later, in November 2009, aFacebook Business Page, the corporate blog “The Analyzer Source,” a LinkedIn page, and two Twitter accounts for owners Jack Driscoll (Twitter handle @pidguy) and Jennifer Maclachlan (Twitter handle @pidgirl) were established. We began to publish regular updates on LinkedIn while continuously building our own professional networks on LinkedIn. In the last year we addedGoogle+, Pinterest, and Tumblr to our marketing efforts. We are reaching a unique audience with each social media platform and we offer value with each post; the result is that our following is increasing. How do we do this? We note what people "like,"retweet, or comment on and consistently make our next post not about our products, but about people, places, and things that interest us and make us more human and less corporate. This poster will explore how we have built relationships with customers and prospective customers via social media marketing and how it has translated to sales of our analyzers.

  Sunday morning at ACS NOLA: SCHB posters by   Jennifer Maclachlan

@pidguy's true story of developing & marketing an environmental instrumentation company: a forty year perspective

Join us on the ACS Division of Small Chemical Businesses Program Track at the ACS National Meeting in New Orleans to hear @pidguy's *true story*

26 - Developing and marketing an environmental instrumentation company: A forty year perspective

Jack N. Driscoll, PID Analyzers, LLC, Sandwich, MA 02563, United States

HNU Systems, Inc., was founded by Driscoll & Spaziani in December 1973, intending to develop a new technology, photoionization detection (PID), for the analysis of environmental pollutants. We went to NIOSH in Cincinnati to explore potential uses of PID in industrial hygiene. During our visit, a scientist at NIOSH said, "If you had a portable instrument that would measure vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) at 1 ppm, we would be very interested." We went to a gas company the next day to get a lecture bottle of VCM and that afternoon we had a VCM monitor. A working prototype portable (battery operated) PID was built for the AIHCE show and, two months later, we got our first order from BFG. Once the evaluation period was over, we received an order for 50 units from BFG. In addition, BFG licensed their process for manufacturing VCM worldwide and included photoionization as the method of choice for VCM monitoring. We were off and running with VCM for the first few years. The next 35 years included rapid growth and then contraction as the economic times and markets changed. A number of years of economic struggles was followed by reorganizing and forming a new Company, PID Analyzers. Since bank financing has become more difficult in the past decade, PID has reverted to self funding to continue growing. These financial issues along with changing sources for parts will be discussed in detail.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013 11:15 AM
True Stories of Success from Chemical Entrepreneurs (08:00 AM - 11:50 AM)
Location: DoubleTree by Hilton New Orleans
Room: Crescent B

American Chemical Society members who were registered for the New Orleans Spring meeting can access the full presentation here with their ACS login. Otherwise ACS members and nonmembers can access this and all the Presentations on demand from #ACSNOLA with a paid subscription. See this link for pricing info. 

Monitoring ppb levels of ambient air pollutants via hyphenated techniques: HRGC/ in-series selective detection

Accepted for presentation at the American Chemical Society Spring National Meeting 2013 in New Orleans, LA in the Air Monitoring Symposium in the ACS Division of Environmental Chemistry. Co-sponsored by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. 508 - Monitoring ppb levels of ambient air pollutants via hyphenated techniques: HRGC/ in-series selective detection Thursday, April 11, 2013 10:30 AMAir Monitoring (08:30 AM - 11:55 AM) Location: New Orleans Downtown Marriott at the Convention Center Room: Blaine Kern B Jack N Driscoll, Jennifer L Maclachlan. PID Analyzers, LLC, Sandwich, Massachusetts, MA 02563, United States High resolution gas chromatography (HRGC) with a capillary column (50,000 to 100,000 theoretical plates) is an efficient and effective means for separation of a complex mixture of chemicals in the ambient air. Since retention times are used for identification, either a second column with a different polarity or the ratio of two detectors are used to confirm the identity of various solutes in a number of USEPA methods. The photoionization detector [1] is a very sensitive (0.5 ppt benzene (VOC's) and non-destructive detector (second detector can be run in-series) for volatile and semivolatile organic compounds. The PID/FID method was described more than 30 years ago [2] for identification of natural gas components, and has been used more recently for identification of ambient hydrocarbons. In a similar manner, a flame photometric detector (FPD) can be used in conjunction with the PID to identify S or P compounds in the air. A PID Analyzers Model 322 Automatic GC with temperature programming and a PID/FID or a PID/FPD was used for these measurements. The ambient measurements were made near our Cape Cod, MA facility which is at the perimeter of the Mass Military Reservation. References 1. Driscoll, J.N., “Gas Chromatography in Environmental Analysis” Environmental Instrumentation Handbook, Wiley , NY (2005) 2. Driscoll, et al., "Gas Chromatographic Detection and Identification of Aromatic and Aliphatic Hydrocarbons in Complex Mixtures by Coupling Photoionization and Flame Ionization Detectors," J. Chrom., 158, 171 (1978).

Arsenic Contamination in Food and Water~a two day symposium

  Arsenic contamination in food and water~featured thematic program track at #ACSNOLA 

  Speakers and Affiliations for Arsenic Contamination in Food Water two day event at #ACSNOLA 

  Arsenic Contamination in Food and Water~An AGRO Division co-sponsored program

Spotted: HNU PID Analyzer clip art

Microsoft Office clip art found using keyword *soil*

HNU DL101 being used on a hazwaste site
Photo courtesy: PID Analyzers, LLC

I came across this HNU PID inspired clip art depicting a hazmat suit clad worker taking readings on a hazardous waste site with an analyzer: our Model 101 series PID analyzer.

The PI101 was the field analytical instrument of choice based on performance, reliability and ruggedness on Superfund Sites in the 1980's. In fact, since this was such an essential part of our business, we developed a "hazardous waste site" version of this analyzer in the late 1980's  called the HW-101. The PI101 utilized a fan to pull in the air sample, but the HW101 employed a pump.

2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the commercialization of photoionization by Jack Driscoll. We celebrated the Chemistry of Industrial Hygiene during the International Year of Chemistry and garnered some sensational press from our local newspaper. Stay tuned to see what's in store later this year for the 40 year celebration of photoionzation. 

Continuous Monitoring of Soil Gas by PID/FID Analyzers

Updated January 4, 2014:
This paper, Monitoring of Soil Gas Extraction and Soil Gas by PID and FID Analyzers,  has been published and is available for purchase by going to the ASTM International link here.

Accepted for presentation at ASTM International Symposium at the January 2013 Committee Week

 Title: Symposium on Continuous Soil Gas Measurements: Worst Case Risk Parameters

At ASTM Committee Week #D18 symposium with Lorne Everett,
Organizer, Jack Driscoll, presenter
and Mark Kram, Organizer & Presenter Jacksonville, FL
January 30, 2012

Dates: Wednesday January 30 2013
Location: Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront; Jacksonville, FL 
Event Name: January 2013 Committee Week

Continuous Monitoring of Soil Gas by PID/FID Analyzers

Dr. John N.Driscoll

PID Analyzers, LLC

The photoionization detector (PID)  has been used for monitoring carbon beds in pump & treat operations for many years. One of the major applications has been cleanup of gasoline from groundwater and soil.  Initially a portable analyzer was used to check the VOC concentration once per week. The labor cost  was too high so a model  112 PID in a NEMA enclosure was selected to continuously monitor the output of carbon beds at a gasoline station.  The analyzer was set to alarm and turn off the pump when the concentration reached  4 ppm of hexane.  The alarm also triggered a cell phone call to the office to indicate a problem.  An 8GB USB data logger was used to store the concentration as a function of time and the site was visited only once a month to collect data and calibrate the analyzer. To meet  the very low action level set by the local environmental authorities, only a continuous analyzer could be used.

 Another application involves leaking of VOC’s into basements of buildings. Leaks can come from contaminated soil or groundwater or even from landfills. This type of measurement, evaluation   of basements. The HNU  PID PI101 was first used to evaluate health problems in houses at Love Canal in 1975 by the NY Dept. of Health. Today’s instruments (DL102 or 112) can continuously monitor and log data over longer periods of time to evaluate potential sources of leaks. An 11.7 eV lamp can be used to detect many of the low MW chlorinated HC found in ground water and soil and a difference in the 10.6/11.7 ratio could alert the used to the presence of low MD chlorinated HC. Dataloggers can store data for many months and easily download data to a PC. A Model 112 can be equipped with a flame ionization detector (FID) and a PID so that methane and other VOC can be detected in the same analyzer. The 112 can be connected directly to the internet allowing remote users to view the data with any PC in their office.