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ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION REPORT: CONSTELLATION TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION - CT-1128 PORTABLE GAS CHROMATOGRAPH-MASS SPECTROMETER
Citation:
BATTELLE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE, R. MANGARAJ, A. DINDAL, Z. WILLENBERG, AND K. RIGGS. ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION REPORT: CONSTELLATION TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION - CT-1128 PORTABLE GAS CHROMATOGRAPH-MASS SPECTROMETER. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-06/071 (NTIS PB2006-113524), 2006.
Impact/Purpose:
The overall objective of the ETV Program is to accelerate the entrance of new environmental technologies into the domestic and international marketplace by identifying the environmental performance characteristics of commercial-ready technology through the evaluation of objective and quality assured data. This provides the potential purchasers and permitters with an independent and credible assessment of what they are buying and/or permitting. The AMS Center has received funding to performance verify monitoring technologies relevant for homeland security.
Description:
The Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program, beginning as an initiative of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1995, verifies the performance of commercially available, innovative technologies that can be used to measure environmental quality. The ETV provides, through a third-party, quality-assured performance data so buyers and users of environmental technologies can make informed purchase and application decisions, thus providing one path to reducing emissions and improving human health. To provide cost-effective testing, Stakeholder committees, made up of members with diverse backgrounds, provide guidance to the ETV by identifying and prioritizing environmental technologies to address present day environmental quality challenges.
The ETV Advanced Monitoring Systems (AMS) Center, one of six ETV Centers, is actively involved in verifying the performance of advanced monitoring systems available to the public for purchase. The AMS Center participates in the mission of the ETV by providing Test Plans, Protocols, conducting independent performance tests of technologies, and preparing Verification Reports and Statements describing the results of the testing. Vendors of tested technologies can use the Verification Reports and Statements for marketing purposes. All approved Verification Reports are posted on the ETV Web Site as a form of distribution. The individual verification report and statement describe by this abstract is for a Constellation Technology Corp. CT-1128 Portable GC/MS.
Many volatile and semivolatile contaminants in water are detected using bench-top mass spectrometers in a traditional laboratory setting. However, the CT-1128 verified in this test was a portable unit designed to be taken outside the laboratory setting for field analysis. This portability offers an advantage to first-responders and other users who need chemical information when time, sampling, and other limitations preclude analysis in a laboratory.
The ability of the CT-1128 to identify and quantify target contaminants was tested in various water matrices. The CT-1128 was evaluated for the following performance parameters: accuracy, precision, linearity. sensitivity, instrument stability, potential matrix and interference effects, field portability, and operational factors. Three classes of contaminants were used for testing: volatile organic compounds (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, total xylene), pesticides (2,4-D and dicrotophos), and chemical warfare agents (VX, GB, and GD). The contaminants were selected based on recommendations from the AMS Center stakeholders. The target contaminant concentrations were constructed to bracket the concentrations of interest, which were calculated using LD50 values assuming a 70-kilogram individual consuming 250 milliliters (mL) of the contaminated water. When LD50 data were not available or feasible for testing, the maximum contamination level, as defined by EPA National Primary Drinking Water Regulations, were used. Reference measurements were conducted on performance test samples only, to confirm the accuracy of sample preparation.
In addition to the performance test, drinking water, buffered waters, and trihalomethanes-fortified water samples, blanks and unfortified matrix samples were analyzed to confirm negative responses in the absence of target contaminants and also to ensure that no sources of contamination were introduced during the analysis.
Experienced GC-MS operators were used for testing since the vendor suggests that a new user obtain training in the use of a GC-MS prior to operating the CT-1128. The vendor identified solid phase microextraction (SPME) as the technique for preparing the water samples for subsequent GC-MS analysis by the CT-1128. It is very important to note that the methodology provided by the vendor was not optimized for any one specific target chemical. The same SPME fiber type and GC column were used throughout the test for all analytes.
QA oversight of verification testing was provided by Battelle and EPA. Battelle QA staff conducted a technical systems audit, a performance evaluation audit, and a data quality audit of 10% of the test data.
This verification statement, the full report on which it is based, and the test/QA plan for this verification test are all available at www.epa.gov/etv/centers/center1.html .