Development of a New Collection Methodology for Low Volatility Chemicals from Porous Surfaces

In this effort, TIAX LLC will complete development of an innovative combination of commercially available materials that will permit the efficient and reproducible extraction, collection, concentration, recovery and analysis of low volatility chemicals from porous surfaces such as concrete, painted wall board, and flooring tiles. This work builds on a successful Phase I program, that demonstrated a proprietary method that collects significantly higher amounts of target compounds when compared to a standard collection method. Those higher comparative yields were up to 50 times greater than the standard method that utilizes gauze wipes with a solvent. The successful development and evaluation of this new surface collection methodology will yield a new SOP for the sampling and analysis of surfaces that have been contaminated by low volatility organic chemicals. After a chemical contamination event, the results obtained from this approach can be used for subsequent legal proceedings and also to verify the effectiveness decontamination procedures on porous surfaces. The fully developed method will have commercial uses in the analysis of low volatility chemicals, and as such a wide market potential for use in both environmental contamination and forensic applications. This Phase II effort will allow this methodology to proceed through a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 5 "Component and/or breadboard validation in a relevant environment". If exercised, the proposed two Option Years will then result in a TRL level of 7, "System prototype demonstration in an operational environment".