Region 8
Serving Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and 27 Tribal Nations
Organic Chemistry Capabilities
National Information
Regional Information
Region 8 has a virtual state of the art facility for the extraction and analysis of many organic compounds. The main focus of the organic section is in the area of drinking water (CWA and SDWA), but is by no means limited to just those two federal programs. The laboratory is equipped to support all the programs within the Region (RCRA, CERCLA, Pesticides, NPDES, state, tribal, and local facilities). The new laboratory facility in Golden, CO houses an extensive area for the preparation and analysis of organic compounds in many matrices (water, soil, plant and animal tissue, etc.) There are three laboratories dedicated to sample preparation and seven separate laboratories for gas chromatographic (GC) and high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) instrumentation.
Volatiles (VOCs)
The laboratory currently has two Hewlett Packard gas chromatographic mass spectrometer detectors (GC/MSD's). The GC/MSD's are equipped with Tekmar PreCept II purge and trap autosamplers. These autosamplers allow for the closed system analysis of volatile organic compounds in both water and soils. These instruments are able to detect levels of volatile organics in the low part per billion (ppb) levels.
Semivolatiles (SVs)
There are also two Hewlett Packard gas chromatographic mass spectrometers (GC/MSD's) for the analysis of semi-volatile (SV) or base neutral acid (BNA's) compounds. These compounds are introduced into the GC/MSD by way of direct injection and require an extraction procedure using an organic solvent (ex: methylene chloride) to remove the compounds from the matrices before introduction into the GC/MSD. Detection of these compounds again is at the part per billion level (ppb).
Pesticides
Pesticides are an all encompassing term and relates to insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides. These groups are then broken down into individual sub-groups according to their organic composition. (Ex: chlorinated, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur containing, and carbamates, etc). The composition of the pesticide dictates the type of extraction and instrument to be used for the analysis. Hence, the laboratory has the necessary specific detectors for analysis of the different groups of compounds at the part per billion (ppb) levels. Both gas chromatographic (GC) and high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) instrumentation are used for these analysis. HPLC is used specifically for compounds that are thermally liable or breakdown when exposed to high temperatures.
Specific Analysis
The laboratory also has gas chromatographs (GC's) with specific detectors designed to act as back-up instrumentation for the GC/MSD's. These include: gas chromatographs (GC's) with photoionization/electrolytic conductivity detectors (PID/ELCD) in series for VOA analysis and GC's with flame ionization detectors (FID's) for the analysis of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and bioremediation gases.
Extraction Instrumentations
In the three sample preparation laboratories there are conventional separatory funnels, liquid-liquid extractors (LLE), and the newly acquired automated solid-phase extractors (SPE). These extraction apparatus are used for extracting organic compounds from water using organic solvents. For soils and other solid matrices the laboratory employs the use of sonicators, the accelerated solvent extractor (ASE), and a supercritical fluid extractor (SFE). The laboratory attempts to employ methods that reduce solvent usage and human exposure to the extraction solvents whenever possible. There are also devices used for recovery of used solvents and for redistilling both methylene chloride and hexane.