California Air Monitoring: From Inception to Current Trends in the New Millennium

ENVR POSTER SESSION: Wednesday evening August 13, 2014 6pm

California Air Monitoring: From Inception to Current Trends in the New Millennium
J. Maclachlan, Organizer; J. Driscoll, Organizer; J. Maclachlan, Presiding Papers 586-587

Title: Monitoring and control of pump  and treat systems in gasoline stations

Abstract Body: One of the most serious contamination problems in LA in the early 2000's was leaking from underground gasoline storage tanks. At high levels of VOC's (thousands of ppm), the pump and treat effluent can simply be flared. At about 1,000 ppm, it requires too much auxiliary fuel to burn the effluent. A new collection system such as a carbon bed is required. Continuous monitoring is required to determine when breakthrough of the VOC's occurs. Then, the carbon bed should be changed.

The most popular technique for carbon bed monitoring is photoionization and the 112 instrument includes a programmable setpoint that shuts down the pump allowing the carbon bed to be changed. The application of continuous monitoring instrumentation to soil vapor extraction (SVE) is described as one of the few innovative technologies that has gained wide use for cleaning up contaminated sights.

New England Local Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (NEAIHA) June Technical Meeting

A view from US Coast Guard Sector Boston when we arrived at the
NEAIHA June Technical Meeting yesterday afternoon.

Our company, PID Analyzers, LLC was the vendor sponsor for this
June Meeting.  Corey Briggs, NEAIHA Past President, was kind enough to
mention us in his five minute talk which included
his hazmat class at University of Rhode Island and about his goals for a NEAIHA archive.
We'll be contributing information about the history of photoionization.

Here's a photo of Jack and I at our vendor table at the dining room entrance at
the US Coast Guard All Hands Club. We even brought Pete Bonk with us, although
somehow we managed not to get a photo of him in his purple tie.
Mr. Mo Yuong Kang, the recipient of the Robert Weker Memorial Scholarship, attended the meeting last night and was recognized and had his photo taken with the NEAIHA Executive Committee.  Mr. Kang was selected from among six excellent applicants according to a press release issued by Bart Ellingsen, NEAIHA Immediate Past President. 

NEAIHA Vendor Liaison, Steve Goselin of Enviro Tech introduced Jack during dinner. They gave him five minutes (and he used over 7)!
I took a video of the talk which I'll likely upload and post here.

This was a view of the room from our vendor table. We are looking forward
to participating in the day-long event that NEAIHA hosts.
This year it is October 21, 2014 in Norwood, MA.

The full meeting agenda is accessible below.

  New England American Industrial Hygiene Association June 2014 Meeting by Jennifer Maclachlan

New technique for the detection of ppb levels of lead in drinking water by HG/GC/PID

Sunday Morning August 10, 2014 

ACS DIVISION OF ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY

ANYL ORAL SESSION: Advances in Separation 

Title: New technique for the detection of ppb levels of lead in drinking water by HG/GC/PID

Presenting author: 
Jennifer Maclachlan
Contributing Author: Jack Driscoll

Abstract Body: The EPA has recently reduced the action level for lead in drinking water from 25 ppb to 15 ppb. Since Pb⁺⁴ forms a stable hydride that has an ionization potential of >10 eV, it can be detected using a photoionization detector (PID) with a lamp energy of 10.6 eV. We have shown previously (1) that hydride generation PID can be used to detect arsenic in well water at sub ppb levels. We have modified that method by using H₂O₂ to oxidize any Pb⁺² to Pb⁺⁴. We are now able to detect total Pb in water down to 1 ppb. The hydride generation minimizes any sample preparation, the new PID improves the detection limit by 3-10 fold, and the GC is used to separate the PbH₄from other metal hydrides and their organic counterparts.

Driscoll, JN et, al, “Detection of As in VT Well Water by HG/GC/PID", ACS Meeting in NOLA, April 2013

Want to attend the meeting? Learn more here.

ACS Chemical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council role in job creation

Tuesday, August 12, 2014 10:20 AM
The Role of Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Economic Development in Sustainability (08:30 AM - 12:40 PM)
BMGT Track
Cosponsored by MPPG and SCHB                 

Location: Moscone Center, North Bldg. San Francisco, CA
Room: 132


11 - ACS Chemical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council role in job creation

Judy Giordon, Janet Bryant, Lisa Kemp, Jennifer Maclachlan, John R. Vercellotti, Carlyn Burton. ecosVC, Pelham, MA 01002, United States

The ability for chemists to develop and communicate the value of their research as solutions for addressing challenges and opportunities faced by people and the planet is critical for 1) expanding personal professional development and career opportunities, 2) creating economic development and jobs, and 3) for demonstrating the value of chemistry – the central science! The Chemical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council (CIEC) was formed to ensure that all members of the ACS – regardless of career stage or aspirations – have the opportunities and connections to be innovators who can knowledgeably and successfully transform their research into sustainable solutions to market opportunities. Join us and hear how the CIEC is working across the ACS to develop and share with ACS members roadmaps each of us can use to help successfully take the journey from researcher to innovator to a potential “start –up” whether as an “intra”preneur within an organization or as an “entre”preneur out on your own. Both require the same skills!

Want to attend this meeting? Go to www.acs.org/meetings for more information. 
See the full lineup for this symposium below:

  The Role of Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Economic Development in Sustainability uploaded by Jennifer Maclachlan

Environmental and process measurements in fracking operations with a portable gas chromatograph

PRESIDENTIAL SYMPOSIUM at #ACSsanfran

Update: Read coverage from American Laboratory Magazine on this symposium here:

ACS Addresses Fracking and Sustainability

We presented on day one of this two day symposium on the ENVR track
cosponsored by the Committee on Environmental Improvement (CEI)

Tuesday afternoon August 12, 2014 at 4:20pm 

ACS DIVISION OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY

SESSION: Evolving Science and Environmental Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing 

D. Drogos, Organizer; T. Barton, Organizer; D. Drogos, Presiding Papers 377-384

ENVR-Presidential Symposia

Title: Environmental and process measurements in fracking operations with a portable gas chromatograph

Authors: Jack Driscoll and Jennifer Maclachlan 

Abstract Body: The use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking of shale has catapulted the US into one of the leading producers of natural gas in 2012. The producers are interested in the natural gas composition (C₁ to C₆ hydrocarbon and BTU content). Local Environmental Agencies will be concerned with leakage of methane from the fracking operation both from a reduction in the O₂ level where employees work or a large leakage of a potential greenhouse gas during production. Another application involves the investigation of contamination of methane in local water supplies or streams. Data will be presented utilizing the PID Analyzers Model 312 portable gas chromatograph (GC) configured with a flame ionization detector (FID) that will detect hydrocarbons from ppm to percent levels. A dual column system is used for the various fracking applications described above. The portable GC has an embedded PC with PeakWorks^TM software for GC control and peak integration. The internal battery and the pressurized cylinder will allow the GC to operate for 8-10 hours. This flexible and sensitive field portable GC is ideal for monitoring environmental concerns associated with fracking operations.

See the full two day lineup below:

  Evolving Science and Environmental Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing by Jennifer Maclachlan

Real Time Detection Systems and The Industrial Hygienist: An #Ignite Presentation at #AIHce 2012

Click on this link to see Jack Driscoll's Real Time Detection Systems and The Industrial Hygienist Ignite Presentation in this #AIHce 2012 Ignite Presentation.

Access the FULL presentation on You Tube below.