Recent Advances in Remediation Strategies and Technologies for the Cleanup of Hazardous Waste Sites

Accepted for presentation in the following SYMPOSIUM at #ACSPhilly 2016:  Recent Advances in Remediation Strategies and Technologies  for the Cleanup of Hazardous Waste Sites

ABSTRACT SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM AREA NAME: ENVR

PRESENTATION TYPE: Oral Only

TITLE: Headspace GC/PID for on-site screening of soil  and water at hazardous waste sites

AUTHORS (FIRST NAME, LAST NAME): John N. Driscoll1, Jennifer L. Maclachlan2

INSTITUTIONS (ALL): 1. PID Analyzers, LLC, Centerville, MA, United States. 2. PID Analyzers, LLC, Sandwich, MA, United States.

ABSTRACT BODY:  Abstract: Headspace screening of VOC’s in soil and water samples in the laboratories is a common practice to prevent high level samples from contaminating the GC/MS. The screening of soil and water samples in the field using a headspace photoionization detection (PID), as a Level I field screening tool, has been a common practice that has been in use for more than 25 years. A battery operated portable gas chromatograph (GC) offers Level II field analysis with the ability to detemine  the exact species and concentrations of the contaminants offering real-time laboratory quality  data in the field. The real advantage to using both Level I and Level II sreening methods is to  speed up the processing of samples once the contaminants have been identified and  reduce the number of samples sent to the laboratory.  Low ppb levels of detection include most contaminants  including TCE and PCE.  A portable GC can run for 6-8 hours on the batteries  and can accommodate 30M capillary columns that are easily interchangeable. The general  purpose column is a 30M x 0.53 mm x 3 micron film methyl silicone column that separated  based on boiling point. The thick film column will also separate gases as well as volatile liquids.  This is an ideal tool to help clean up hazardous waste sites more rapidly.

@pidgirl's May 2012 E-Newsletter

From PID's to portable GC's and Beyond

May 2012

Greetings! I had the honor of presenting the annual Frederick F. Spaziani scholarship award on April 26, 2012 alongside Dr. Walter Johnson at Suffolk University to two very talented young women on theastrophysics track: Elizabeth Rodriguez and Amanda Lewis (L to R above).  Fred Spaziani co-founded  HNU Systems, Inc. with Jack Driscoll in 1973. Together they developed the first commercialphotoionization detector that is now the most important method for measuring volatile organic compounds. Fred left us at too early an age and the award is to help students in science and/or engineering reach their full potential.

High performance real-time detection system

Model 312 The HNU Model 312 portable Gas Chromatograph (GC) is designed for chromatographic separation, identification, and quantification of chemical components in gas or liquid samples. This is one of our featured fast GC's which utilize the VICI Valco Inc. resistively heated columns which is the subject of an upcoming presentation in the American Industrial Hygiene Conference & Exposition Real-Time Detection Systems Podium Session. Presentation date/time: Tuesday June 19, 2012 10:50am-11:10am Fast GC-PID/FID Analyses Using Resistively Heated Columns for Rapid Analyses in the Field  Read and/or download the brochure here.

Portable  FID

Applications      Model 115 Non-specific- 115- Responds to all VOC's including methane Headspace- VOCs in soil or water Quality control- residual monomer in resins, residual solvents in paper or food, testing gas masks EPA Method 21- to 30,000 ppm Emergency response- spills from trucks & trains Fugitive emissions- leak detection Arson investigations- find trace accelerants Confined space entry- health & safety Read and/or download the brochure here.

Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter today and I invite you to connect with me socially using the icon links below.           Sincerely, Jennifer L. Maclachlan, Managing Director PID Analyzers, LLC

How to Calibrate your HNU Model 102+

Model 102 4 Pg Brochure 5-11

Recent Discussion from the AIHA Linked-In Group about the use of a PID

American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) Linked In Group Discussion

This paper describes the use of a PID Analyzers Model 102 photoionization analyzer with a long life 11.7 eV lamp to measure chlorinated HC including carbon tetrachloride.

Measurement of chlorinated HC with an 117 PID.pdf gasanalysis.blogspot.com

Measurement of chlorinated HC with an 117...

3 days ago

4 comments

Gershon Schwartz • An interesting article indeed.

Still I wouldn't use a PID if I had more than one solvent as it would be extremely difficult to differentiate between them especially if one was a chlorinated hydrocarbon and the other was a non chlorinated solvent. A PID would be useful if you are doing a general survey to determine presence of solvents in an area were you already know qualitatively what exists in the matrix. But then an FID or an FPD would do the same job why use a PID ? A more difficult question is why would you want to do such a survey at all? I have used TO-17 or T0-15 for surveys for years and in my opinion the results much more accurate results albeit you have to wait for the laboratory analysis.

As I said in the beginning of this discussion if you must have immediate results I would use a portable GC-MS . Yes its heavier ,more expensive and difficult to use, but its also more accurate and the results coming from it definitely would stand up in court were as I sincerely doubt if results from a PID scanner would.

see http://www.epa.gov/ttnamti1/airtox.html#compendium for all the ambient methodology when you need to use a Mass spec otherwise http://www.osha.gov/dts/sltc/methods/organic/org007/org007.html or
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2003-154/

Although we will never get one opinion in here ,maybe someone from NIOSH or OSHA is listening and could weigh in??

2 days ago

Jack Driscoll • A portable mass spectrometer is a nice piece of equipment but at $100K, it is not an analyzer that every industrial hygienist has at his or her disposal. The PID with an 11.7 lamp, on the other hand is about $3K and many industrial hygienists do have PID’s. The 11.7 lamp is needed for detecting many chlorinated hydrocarbons since they have higher ionization potentials than 10.6 eV. The FID has a very poor response to chlorinated hydrocarbons like carbon tetrachloride. This chemical used to be used as a fire extinguisher on airplanes. The FPD’s on the market respond to S or P but not Cl-HC.
The main advantage of a PID is that it does respond to many compounds so one does not need a specific analyzer for every solvent that they use. The PID has a fast response (90% in 1 second) and can detect very low levels of VOC’s (ppb) so it can be used to find problem areas very quickly. Once an area is mapped, a charcoal tube sample is collected in the “hot” spots and returned to the laboratory for a detailed analysis of the chemicals in the area by various OSHA methods. In fact, the portable PID’s are used by OSHA to determine sampling locations during their surveys of industrial plants. With a PID to determine which problem areas to sample, one would have a more accurate assessment of the site.

17 hours ago

Gershon Schwartz • Very good and clear explanation.

I agree with you 100%.

The right tool in the right hand at the right time,

Thanks, this is the good kind of quality discussions we should have here.

Have a nice day

9 hours ago

Jack Driscoll • Thanks for your comments Gershon.

45 minutes ago

Gershon Schwartz • Thanks for your comments also.
After living thirty years of Industrial Hygiene and Atmospheric Science you
must understand that I have heard many long tales of misuse of equipment
and then had to eat the dust myself. How many times have a heard people
trying to convince a Judge that they measured concentrations with whatever
handheld sensor and that a 3 second measurement was equivalent to a
measurement over 30 minute average period which was required by law???
This discussion started before I was born in 1955 with Leidel and Leidel
when people were trying to prove that you could simulate worker exposure by
setting up and number of sensors in a factory, measuring the time the
worker was in each area, integrating between time and exposure and hockus
pockus you get an exposure value which is supposed to represent reality.
Well in reality this method didn't work in 1955 and it doesn't work now
either.
Then again as you explained very clearly there are advantages to a
screening tool and it always comes down to the right tool in the right hand
at the right time.
Thanks for the opportunity to discuss a real hot potato and for handling it
in a very professional way.

Hope that we will have many more such discussions here.

Best Regards
Gershon Schwartz

3 days ago

Stepan Reut • We use PID and FID detectors put sequentially on GC. Absolutely priceless configuration for detection and quantification of light aromatic in complex mixtures (like naphtha).

1 day ago

Gershon Schwartz • In the lab or in the field? Used to be a portable gc by a company named
sentex weighed over 20 kg and gave me a slipped disc. Then there was the
Photovav gc pid which wasn't very stable in the field. Does anybody know if
there are any portable gc's available today? Seems to me like another great
idea on paper that never worked in the field?


Best regards

1 day ago

Stepan Reut • Sorry, I was not clear in my wording. My GC is custom configured lab unit.

1 day ago

Jack Driscoll • Stephan- Do you have any interesting PID?FID chromatograms and or applications that we could use on our gcdetector blog?

1 day ago

Stepan Reut • FID+PID configuration gives unique selectivity for low molecular weight compounds: C1-C10. Methanol gives zero solvent pick on PID detector, so you can see traces on C2-C3 unsaturated compounds (Vinyl Chloride) which would be otherwise covered under MeOH.

Let me check what I can find for your blog.

1 day ago

Stepan Reut • As for field PID, I had an idea how to increase selectivity, but never could test it. It looks like one can do crude separation of VOC's based on the boiling point. If you insert a 100mg Carbosieve trap in PID probe, you eliminate all organic starting from C3 and up. Charcoal trap would eliminate everything from C4 and up, XAD2 traps C6 and up, Sulfuric acid on ceramic - eliminates amines, and so on. With some experimenting this can be developed into simple field chromatography: PID with disposable packed column for fractional separation of the VOC's . If one plots dPID/dt you have a real chromatogram from a handheld PID

1 day ago

Jack Driscoll • see the recent blog on PID/FID

21 hours ago

Rob Hill • We used an 11.7 eV lamp PID years ago when doing leak detection (i.e., when we knew what the constituents/mass fractions were in the process lines, tanks, etc.) You have to be very aware of the relative response of each chemical with regard to whichever lamp you use. If I remember correctly, carbon tet and formaldehyde could be seen by the PID with the higher eV bulb, but you still had to multiply your reading by the response factor, which was about 10 for these compounds. Which means that you're being exposed to 10 times the concentration of what the reading on the instrument is telling you. The manufacturer can provide you with a table of response factors, so ask for them.

If you need a good field instrument or something accurate but portable, I'd recommend the Miran SapphIRe - it uses infrared spectroscopy and the XL model has a comprehensive library that calibrates the unit to 150 compounds for unknown identifications and can be customized for whatever you are looking for. (Here's the spec sheet)

It's a whopper to carry around but very helpful in instances where we needed to know the actual concentrations (or as nearly as we could get). The Miran is cheaper than a portable GC-MS (costs around $25K to buy), but with all these detectors, you can rent them from folks like Ashtead or Geotech for a reasonable fee... Lastly, as Gershon mentioned above, TO-15 or TO-17 canister sampling can be done, and if you are in a hurry, there are mobile labs that can do these analyses on-site (such as H&P Mobile Geochemistry and Con-Test) using Tedlar bags and/or Summa canisters.



 

Add a comment...  Updated as of 8/15/11 by Posted by PID Girl: Jennifer Maclachlan

The 4th Generation Photoionization Detector

Model_52_PID 511

The Chemistry of Industrial Hygiene Instrumentation

Hilton Portland Galleria North

The question came to me from longtime colleague Geoff Hewitt of IonScience, is 2011 the 40th anniversary of  the commercialization of the photoionization detector by Jack Driscoll? My answer was no it's not; it is the 38th anniversary but it is the International Year of Chemistry. What better time to celebrate the life's work of a chemist and his contributions to the field of industrial hygiene? I contacted my local section of the American Chemical Society (NESACS) and applied for a mini-grant to sponsor this event and applied to have it listed as an official International Year of Chemistry (IYC) event. 
Dr. Patrick Gordon, Chair of NESACS contacted me to discuss presenting a plaque to Jack at this event that they had agreed to sponsor and would act as an official IYC event. When asked AIHA offered me a no-charge function room at the Hilton Portland for this special evening.

Dr. Gordon asked me to solicit someone in the industrial hygiene industry to write the verbiage for the plaque; I chose Dr. Phil Smith of US Department of Labor/Occupational Health and Safety Association because he and Jack both currently serve on the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) Real-Time Detection Systems Committee. This is what Dr. Smith submitted to me:

"In recognition of your visionary efforts to improve the practice of industrial hygiene through development of highly portable detection instruments, including development of the first handheld photoionization detector, the HNU PI101, and numerous other handheld and transportable detection systems.  Your work has had a large and lasting impact on the practice of industrial hygiene, and in other fields where the need exists to measure airborne chemicals in real-time or near real-time".

I thought Phil would make an excellent speaker for the event so I asked him if he would say a few words about Jack and the impact his instrumentation has had on the industrial hygiene industry. I also asked Geoff Hewitt to speak about the founding of HNU Systems since he was employed there shortly after it's incorporation. Geoff met with us to discuss his speech and detail the marketing for this event. I contacted members of the Pacific Northwest local American Chemical Society sections to engage their participation in this event that was taking place within/driving distance of their section. I received an overwhelming response from the Portland Local Section who won a ChemLuminary Award in 2010 for the best new public relations campaign. 

 

Hewitt, Brabham-Chair Portland LS, Maclachlan, Driscoll, Terrell-Chair-Elect Portland LS

This event was well received by the industry media and many thanks to the following media individuals who ran my press releases: Occupational Health & Safety,  Physics News Facility Safety Management Rand D

The reception began at 6pm and ended at 8:30pm on Sunday May 15, 2011 at the Hilton Portland in Galleria North on the Ballroom level. Complimentary beer (Portland micro-brews!) , wine and soft drinks were served along with prociutto-wrapped asparagus, coconut shrimp, crackers with brie & apricot, spinach & artichoke dip and a roast beef carving station to the fifty attendees. Socializing occurred from 6pm-6:30pm, then I kicked off the program with an Introduction to the International Year of Chemistry and introduced my colleague and father: Dr. Jack Driscoll. Jack spoke for 30 minutes and had his audience entranced in his presentation: The History of HNU and the amusing anecdotes that accompanied each Powerpoint slide. 

 Geoff Hewitt spoke next opening with an apropos quote: “The secret to success is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.” Benjamin Disraeli First Earl of Beaconsfield, 1804-1881* Jack Driscoll is credited with commercializing the photoionization detector ie) engineering the first analyzer to employ photoionization as the detection principal.  "The history of PID, and the careers of Jack and Geoff intersect a number of times over the years, so bear with me as I tell a tale that is mostly based on fact!! And since the history of PID predates hnu, so does my narrative. I first met Jack Driscoll at the Pittsburgh Conference in Cleveland in 1975. How did that meeting come about? Well it’s a story of two people arriving at the same place from two totally different journeys, and of other characters that played a role along the way." Geoff went on to provide a time line 

of “The History of PID according to Geoff”  including "1961 James Lovelock publishes review of ionization detectors for gc including ECD FID and PID. Analytical Chemistry 33, #2 162-178. ECD allows detection of traces of pesticides and CFCs.1962 Rachel Carson publishes “Silent Spring” warning of the perils of indiscriminate pesticide use, and the environmental movement is founded. Lovelock’s ECD figures prominently in early environmental analysis" leading up to the next set of critical events: 1971 Driscoll builds 1^st PID while at Walden Research (making it the 40th anniversary of the first photoionization detector prototype!) 1972 hnu formed to develop a Nitrogen Oxide monitor for the USA Environmental Protection Agency  Driscoll and Spaziani develop first commercial PID with separate lamp and ion chamber".  A really touching moment was when Geoff took the time to remember those individuals who were essential to the early success of HNU Systems: Fred Spaziani, Jim Becker and Al Wilshire.

Hewitt, Dahlstrom, Maclachlan, Smith, Driscoll

The room was full of Jack's colleagues including Dave Dahlstrom who shook Jack's hand and "thanked [him] for saving thousands of lives with [his] industrial hygiene instrumentation".

#AIHce Social Media Meetup

Hilton Portland

Bistro 921 Hotel Bar Hilton Portland

The 2nd* annual #AIHce social media meetup took place on Sunday May 15, 2011 at the Hilton Portland & Exec Towers at the Bistro 921 Bar at 4:30pm. 

Once the confusion of "which" Hilton is it in?-this one or the one across the street? folks started to arrive at Bistro 921.  

It is always awkward at first approaching strangers at the bar asking if they are here for the social media meetup-I must remember to bring a sign with the Linked-In, Facebook and Twitter logos to future events to ease that nervousness-of course once Tony Uliano turned around I recognized his face from the AIHA Linked-In group and said "Tony how are you? It's me, Jennifer". Turns out Matt who was grading papers at the bar was also there for the meetup and my husband Jimmy and I welcomed them to join us at the tables in front of the tv.  

Back row L to R Tony, Jack, Jennifer, Ben, Don, Front row L to R Matt, Jimmy

The business card exchange began described by Don Weeks as "old school-did we know that people use USB devices to exchange contact information?" I couldn't believe it: the excitement overtook me as I pulled my keys out of my purse with my beloved IChromatography Scientist poken attached and demonstrated how a poken works, promising to forward the video Ken Grant of Analtech made about it (click here for Poken at Pittcon video)  and admitting that pokens are only fun when everyone has one-I promised Don a poken-I keep an extra for this exact opportunity-another social media enthusiast-I'll be mailing off his "tiger poken" today; turns out that Don is not only active on Linked-In but has been participating using the show hashtag on Twitter: #aihce.  Jack arrived and Don introduced us as his Linked-In friends. We had a social media discussion about Linked-In (most everyone uses it for business), Twitter (only myself and Don use it) and Facebook people in this Linked-In group use it more for personal relationships although they participate in the AIHA group on Facebook. 

We discussed how we all feel like we "know" each other through our interactions via the AIHA social media vehicles (Linked-In, Facebook, Twitter)  and how neat it was to get together and "meet face to face".


I had to leave at 5:30pm to get ready for my next event downstairs in Galleria North. My husband, Jimmy stayed behind and hung out with his new Linked-In friends, although he is my spouse and worthy of the purple spouse badge ribbon, he does work in the construction industry and is involved in green building and solar powered HVAC systems so he was able to find common ground amongst these industrial hygienists. We had another spouse join the group and a few others. So our social media meetup tally went up from 7 to 11. 

Looking forward to staying in contact with our new #AIHce friends whom we know a little better now and looking forward to meeting up in Indianapolis in 2012! If you are in Portland, stop by and see @pidguy at our booth #718.

*The first #aihce social media meetup was toted as a tweetup and took place at AIHCE 2010 in Denver. Click here for details.

Spaziani Memorial Award for Excellence in Science & Engineering

Each year PID Analyzers and Dr. Driscoll select students from Suffolk University Physics & Engineering for the Spaziani Memorial Award. Awardees are Adam Shomer & Elizabeth Rodriguez. April 13, 2011

Fred Spaziani was the co-founder of  HNU Systems. He and Jack Driscoll developed the first commercial photoionization detector that is now the most important method for measuring volatile organic compounds. Fred left us at too early an age and the award is to help students in science or engineering to reach their full potential.

PID Analyzers is now Headquartered on Cape Cod

Barnstable residents, John Driscoll and Jennifer Maclachlan, a dynamic father-daughter team who own and operate PID Analyzers, LLC are in the process of moving their family business, PID Analyzers, LLC to the other side of the Sagamore Bridge this Friday October 22, 2010 to 2 Washington Circle, Unit 4, Sandwich, MA. A secondary operation of PID Analyzers will be opening in Quincy, MA at the end of the month to retain their key employees involved in the specialty glass and sensor manufacturing portion of the business . 

John Driscoll started the business as HNU Systems, Inc. in 1973 in Newton, MA as an incredibly talented chemist and innovator credited with commercializing the technique of photoionization and in 1976 utilizing his research and expanding the photoionization detector (PID) product development and applying it to gas chromatography-it was found that the PID when used with a gas chromatograph (GC) is 50 more sensitive than the accepted technology available in the 1970's: the flame ionization detector (FID).  PID Analyzers still uses HNU for their web address since HNU stands for the energy of the photon think Physics where: h is Plank's constant yielding the Greek symbol "nu" which initiates the photoionization process. 

The PID is written into many Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA) methods for soil, drinking water and worker health and safety. PID Analyzers are sold worldwide including the rapidly growing Chinese market where worker health and safety has become a major concern.