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Sandia National Laboratories has developed a portable system for the detectionof Trihalomethanes (THMs) in water using purge and trap followed by isothermal gaschromatography and surface acoustic wave (SAW) detection. This system provides asmall footprint, low cost, sensitive, and quickly deployable water sensor. The self-containedsystem weighs less than 32 pounds, occupies a carry-on luggage-sized case,and performs THM analysis in less than 15 minutes. An inexpensive programmableintegrated circuit (PIC) processor handles heating, timing, valve control and datacollection functions for the system. Plotting and analysis are performed with a portablecomputer.Sandia has a long history of field detection with a variety of SAW-based systemsdeployed in national security applications. SAW detection of THMs is a naturalextension of this work, and Sandia's SAW technology has advantages for field use overcommercial SAWs and other water contaminant detection technology.Standard methods of organic sample collection and analysis are costly.Portable, rapid, and inexpensive detection of THMs and other hazardous disinfectionbyproducts would benefit utilities, through better regulatory compliance and costsavings through enhanced process control; epidemiological researchers, throughenhanced and cheaper monitoring capabilities; and ultimately the public, through betterunderstanding and control of the water supply.While this system was introduced to the AWWA community in the fall of 2005,improvements have been ongoing. This talk will review the system and its components,discuss improvements in SAW coatings techniques and materials as well as thesystem's current capabilities. Future improvements will also be discussed, such as theuse of microfabricated components to reduce the power and size of the overall system.Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a LockheedMartin Company, for the United States Department of Energy NNSA under ContractDE-AC04-94AL85000. Includes abstract only.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 03/01/2007 Number of Pages: 1File Size: 1 file , 220 KB