Development of an in situ Thermal Extraction Detection System (TEDS) for Rapid, Accurate, Quantitative Analysis of Environmental Pollutants in the Subsurface

Ion Signature Technology, Inc. (IST) will develop and market a collection and analysis system that will retrieve soil-bound pollutants as well as soluble and non-soluble contaminants from groundwater as the probe is pushed by cone penetrometry of Geoprobe into the subsurface. The goal of this project is to detect in real-time the wide range of compounds listed in EPA Method 8260 (VOCs) and 8270 (SVOCs) methods. On one end of a heated transfer line is a variably heated collection port that desorbs/extracts organics and brings them to the surface. On the other end of the heated transfer line is a valve that funnels the sample to photoionization (BTEX, PAH) and electron capture (chlorinated solvents, PCBs, pesticides) detectors or to a gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry detector (GS/MS) to provide quantitative data. When the system is commercialized, it will “sniff” for the presence of pollutants as the probe is advanced into the subsurface at the rate of 2 cm/sec. Once detected, the valve switches to the GC/MS, positive ID is made, and the amount in the sample at known depth is recorded. When real-time and speciated chemical measurements are combined with geological and hydrogeological site data, conceptual models emerge that depict the location and rate of movement of pollution. Moreover, the thermal extraction and detection system (called TEDs) fits squarely into EPA’s mission and importantly, EPA’s TRIAD process because TEDs will deliver data on-site and in real-time. The goal is to provide data to better manage site investigations and cleanup. TPS has shown that when projects employ the TRIAD process, which encompasses systematic planning, dynamic work strategies, and real-time measurement systems, remediation costs are reduced.