Welcome to the Environmental Chemistry Laboratory

In room 406 of the Science & Technology I Building on the Fairfax Campus (Telephone:  703/993-1086)

 Students and scientists working in the Environmental Chemistry Laboratory (ECL) study the origin, distribution and transport of organic chemicals in coastal watersheds.  Shown below is a picture tour of the ECL and adjoining facilities.  Researchers and various equipment in the lab are highlighted. 
Dr. Hyun-Min Hwang is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Chemistry Department.  Dr. Hwang is studying the inputs of PAHs and PCBs in the Anacostia River in response to combined sewer overflow events during rainfall.  His results are used to develop contaminant reduction and abatement polices to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Robert Allen is an MS student in the Chemistry Department conducting research in PAH sources to air.  Robert is changing filters and PUF sorbent cartridges in a high-volume air sampler during a sampling study on the GMU campus.  The sampler shown is deployed outside the Science & Technology  I Building, home of the Chemistry Department. Sampling assembly on an Andersen PUF high-volume air sampler.  Air is pulled through a glass-fiber filter to remove particles and subsequently passes through polyurethane foam (PUF) sorbent plugs to extract vapor phase organic compounds from the filtered air. 
A Fultz submersible pump is used to sample river and lake water in the ultra-clean trace analysis of organic chemicals.  Large volume (>50 L) water samples are routinely collected in stainless steel beverage containers.  The Environmental Chemistry Laboratory in the Chemistry Department is equipped with a 300 square foot walk-in cold room.  The cold room is maintained at 3 oC, and is used to store water samples prior to analytical processing.   Flash rotary evaporators, shown above, are used in the Environmental Chemistry Laboratory to evaporate solvents in sample concentration.  
Another technique used to concentrate analytes in samples is dry nitrogen gas evaporation.  The nitrogen manifold above can process 24 samples simultaneously.   Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) is performed using a Waters Model 600 HPLC system.  GPC is used to separate organic chemicals in tissue samples from interfering substances such a triglycerides.  The GPC columns used in separations are 3 cm (diameter) X 30 cm (length) and contain crosslinked polystyrene-divinyl benzene packing.  The mode of separation is size exclusion chromatography.   A Hewlett-Packard 5890A gas chromatograph (GC) equipped with a flame ionization detector is used to analyze the alkane composition of sediment samples.  Alkanes are useful indicators of the sources of sedimentary organic matter.
Adjacent to the Environmental Chemistry Laboratory is the Chemistry Instrument Room.  Shown above is a Perkin-Elmer Model 5100 atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS).  The AAS is used to analyze trace elements in environmental samples.   A Hewlett-Packard 1100 Series HPLC is located in the Chemistry Instrument Room.  The HPLC has been used to analyze pesticide residues in food materials and photolysis products in water.  Connected to the Environmental Chemistry Laboratory is the graduate student office.  The office contains several desks and desktop computers used by students to process analytical data and write theses and dissertations.  Shown above is a newly acquired 900 MHz Dell PC.   
Furnaces are used in the routine cleaning of glassware by igniting organic matter on surfaces.  This approach provides very clean glassware for organic trace analysis.  The Goulden large-sample extractor is used to extract and preconcentrate organic chemicals in water, and provides parts per trillion concentration, or less, measurements of PAHs, PCBs and pesticides in surface water transport studies.  High performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) is used to analyze pharmaceutical (e.g., antibiotics, common drugs, natural products)  contaminants in water and wastewater.  Shown above is a Waters Corp. 2690 Separations Module-ZQ2000 Mass Spectrometer located in the Shared Research Instrumentation Facility at GMU.  
Gas chromatography/electron capture detection (GC/ECD) is used to analyze organochlorine contaminants in water, sediments and tissues.  Shown above is a Hewlett-Packard (Agilent Technologies) 5890 Series II GC/ECD located in the Environmental Chemistry Laboratory.
 Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) is used to analyze hydrocarbons, pesticides, fatty acids , and  sterols in water, sediments and tissues.  Shown above is a Hewlett-Packard  (Agilent Technologies) 5971A MSD GC/MS located in the Chemistry Instrument Room Several additional GC/MS instruments are also found in the Shared Research Instrumentation Facility (SRIF).  SRIF is located on the Prince William campus of GMU.