Technology Description

The IS2 is a sentinel technology and innovative tool for monitoring contaminants in groundwater. This active sampling device is deployed downhole in a monitoring well, where its integrated pumps draw ambient groundwater at mL/day rates and contact the stream of water with solid adsorption media on which analytes of interest become concentrated over time. The effluent of the device remains in the subsurface, and only the device with the extracted analytes is retrieved. As a result, use of the device produces zero purge water and zero wastewater at the surface. Contaminant-charged extraction media are shipped to the laboratory where they get processed in an automated analysis strategy using robotics and standard analytical detection strategies, such as mass spectrometry or ion chromatography. Hallmarks of the technology are ultra-low detection limits in the ng/L and pg/L range, zero production of wastewater, and low per-sample costs due to a high degree of automation.

This project will demonstrate the applicability of the IS2 technology to monitoring DoD priority pollutants in groundwater. Results from deployment of the IS2 technology will be directly compared to data obtained concomitantly by DoD contract laboratories using contemporary approaches. Metrics of success for this project include method detection limits 10- to 100-times lower than those of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methods; accuracy, precision, and reproducibility of IS2 analysis matching or exceeding those of EPA methods; spectrum of compounds amenable to IS2 analysis; sample holding time and required temperature; volume of hazardous waste generated; and cost per sample processed.