EPSRC Reference: |
GR/M34157/01 |
Title: |
NEW SENSOR SYSTEM FOR MONITORING SOLVENT MIGRATION FROM CONTAMINATED SITES |
Principal Investigator: |
Williams, Professor D |
Other Investigators: |
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Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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Project Partners: |
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Department: |
Chemistry |
Organisation: |
UCL |
Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
Starts: |
01 February 1999 |
Ends: |
31 January 2001 |
Value (£): |
103,454
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EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
Assess/Remediate Contamination |
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EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
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Related Grants: |
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Panel History: |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
The need is to monitor solvent dispersion and migration from contaminated land and in ground water. The problem is that conventional GC systems need constant attention, and are too expensive to deploy in a fixed, dense network for site monitoring. The research opportunity is for a miniature, very inexpensive instrument suitable for deployment in a dense network to monitor volatile organic pollutant dispersion in the shallow sub-surface. Analytical performance is traded against cost and size; modern gas sensor technology and computational and system control methods mean that a useful trade-off can indeed be achieved. The method is particularly useful for chlorinated hydrocarbons and similar solvents.We propose a system in which species present in air drawn through the soil or water are accumulated onto a suitably chosen absorbent and then detected and identified by temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and use of a gas-sensor array device. We propose to implement TPD with a small absorbent bed and miniature heater to achieve a small, robust, reliable and portable device, and use the sensor technology and computational and system control methods to overcome the poor separation obtained in conventional thermal desorption methods from a small bed.
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Key Findings |
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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Impacts |
Description |
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Summary |
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Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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Project URL: |
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Further Information: |
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Organisation Website: |
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