Rapid Real-Time High-Sensitivity Trichloroethylene Vapor Analyzer

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will address the need for a trace trichloroethylene TCE vapor sensor with real time measurement capabilities TCE is a toxic volatile organic compound VOC used as an industrial solvent TCE is a common soil contaminant at industrial toxic waste sites and it migrates through the soil away from the original contamination site TCE vapor intrusion into buildings from contaminated soil concentrates the TCE vapor indoors where it poses a health risk to the occupants Currently TCE is monitored by capturing it with chemically active materials and then analyzing those materials in a laboratory the measurement interval is hours or days A real time monitor with a measurement interval of minutes would enable real time mapping of the TCE concentration within a building to locate vapor intrusion points of ingress and to monitor the quantity of TCE entering the building The mapping distinguishes TCE entering the building from indoor sources of TCE Entanglement Technologies proposes build a TCE vapor sensor based on the combination of cavity ring down spectroscopy CRDS and diffusion time of flight DiTOF incorporating stationary phases CRDS provides extremely sensitive detection while diffusion with stationary phase provides specificity The objective for phase II is to build a commercial prototype analyzer to demonstrate TCE vapor detection in the presence of other volatile organic compounds VOCs and atmosphere e g carbon dioxide and water vapor The project will comprise constructing a self contained CRDS DiTOF prototype gas analyzer and demonstrating its performance in a field trial The anticipated TCE sensitivity is better than g m parts per trillion by volume pptv in a measurement time of minutes or less The long term objective of this project is to develop a portable TCE vapor analyzer as a commercial product with a g m sensitivity An additional objective is to adapt the same basic analyzer design resulting from this project to many different trace gases including atmospheric and indoor air pollutants and combinations of trace gases Such a family of analyzers will impact pollution research control and mitigation as much as CRDS carbon dioxide methane and water analyzers are currently impacting the study of greenhouse gases and climate change CRDS DiTOF technology will also be applied to biomedical science industrial process monitoring environmental remediation and explosives detection For example the diffusion based selectivity will prove critical to the separation and quantification of the many hydrocarbon gas components in human breath useful for non invasive diagnosis of disease Similarly CRDS DiTOF can enable sensitive chemical analysis of liquids such as blood PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE This Small Business Innovation Research project will address the need for a real time trace trichloroethylene vapor sensor to replace or supplement time integrating sensors Trichloroethylene a toxic volatile organic compound is a common soil contaminant at industrial toxic waste sites and trichloroethylene vapor intrudes into buildings where it poses a health risk to the occupants A real time trichloroethylene sensor would enable mapping of the vapor concentration within a building to locate vapor intrusion points of ingress so that they may be sealed