25 Oil and Gas Monitoring in the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Keys
ITT Corporation announced that its AADI brand has teamed up with the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill to develop two new multi- sensor arrays to detect light hydrocarbons and oxygen depletion associated with oil and gas releases such as recent occurrences in the northern Gulf of Mexico. This research is vital to monitor the long-term effects of water contamination and its threat to coral reef and other coastal ecosystems.
The multi-sensor arrays, built on AADI’s SEAGUARD® platform, have enabled scientists in the University’s Department of Marine Sciences to set new standards for the efficiency of analyses while offering unmatched precision and simple deployment.
The AADI SEAGUARD platform from ITT Analytics is a multi-parameter instrument offering advanced flexibility and real-time capabilities for underwater observation. The first of the new arrays developed from the platform, nicknamed HANDI by the UNC-Chapel Hill scientists, was deployed for testing in 2010 at Conch Reef off Key Largo, Florida. The array assisted the team by effectively detecting oxygen depletion and potential oil and gas transport along the reef ecosystem’s border with fast-moving water in the Florida Straits. Equipped with two of AADI’s fast-response optodes from ITT Analytics, HANDI offers the team immediate and reliable dissolved oxygen measurements without the need for repeated calibrations.
Following the success of the system in Florida, HANDI has been redeployed as part of a benthic lander system with oxygen and light hydrocarbon monitoring capabilities in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The deployment forms part of a long-term gas hydrate monitoring program at Mississippi Canyon Block 118 located within 20 miles of the Deepwater Horizon oil and gas blow-out.
The SEAGUARD platform also offers UNC-Chapel Hill scientists the possibility to add a multi-sensor string, which can turn a single system into a large-scale array simply by plugging in a string of up to 60 sensors.
The second SEAGUARD multi-sensor array known as GHANDI, has been designed as a survey instrument and was deployed during UNC-Chapel Hill’s Florida Keys mission to survey spatial variability in background light hydrocarbon distributions along the outer reef track. The system’s range of AADI sensors monitor oxygen, current conditions, water temperature and conductivity, offering UNC-Chapel Hill’s scientists the flexibility to easily adapt the configuration to meet various demands at each stage of the program.
Circle no. 398
ADVERTORIAL
Analyst allows for efficient, fast and parallel concentration of liquid samples and minimises the environmental impact by solvent recovery. This automated parallel evaporation system is designed for gentle concentration of 4, 6 or 12 samples with working volumes of 10 to 500ml down to pre-defined residual volumes of 0.3, 1.0 or 3.0ml by means of heating under vacuum. The key feature of the Syncore®
Operation and Performance of the Parallel Evaporator Syncore Analyst for Environmental Analysis The Syncore®
Analyst is an integrated cooling zone which stores
the concentrated sample in a cooled environment. Programmable conditions (vacuum, temperature, orbital movement) allow for a reproducible concentration without supervision and with high precision. The system can be places outside the fume hood due to the fact that the solvent is recovered by a condenser with a receiving flask. An efficient concentration from most solvents is performed in 30-60 minutes. Best results are achieved with a moderate evaporation rate generated by a vacuum gradient. Highly volatile analytes (e.g. naphthalene), in particular, require a rather slow but smooth evaporation, since a fast evaporation rate tends to carry along volatile analytes. However, this is not the case for non-volatiles (e.g. benzo[a]pyrene). The orbital movement has a considerable effect on the evaporation rate and the final volume. Although concentration is accelerated, a high orbital movement is not only beneficial in environmental analysis. An increase of the movement implements an extension of the glass surface being in contact with the sample. Particularly oily and greasy substances tend to stick on the glass wall. Due to the sophisticated design of the vacuum cover, the individual sealing system of each sample glass and the possibility to clean the
glass vessels in dishwashers, the risk of cross-contamination is mostly insignificant. At a naphthalene sample concentration of up to 800 µg the detected level of naphthalene in blank positions is below 0.1% of the sample concentration. High recovery rates are achieved with the ultimate Flushback Module that gentle rinses the glass walls during operation with the solvent being evaporated.
These advantages make the Syncore® Analyst the system of choice for concentration in trace and ultra-trace analysis. A best practice guideline for installation, operation and performance of the Syncore®
Analyst for environmental analysis is presented in Best@Buchi Number 54. For more information visit
www.buchi.com.
Circle no. 399
Get benefit from a direct solid phase extraction into the BUCHI Syncore® without sample transfer.
Process improvement: up to 12 samples in parallel SPE with a direct elution into the evaporation flask and a different waste for conditioning and washing step. No additional sample transfer needed.
Time savings and high recoveries: our parallel vacuum vortex evaporator is concentrating into a chilled appendix, to protect from thermal decomposition and to get a high evaporation rate.
High reproducibility: the flush back module does increase the recoveries and give you a better reproducibility by condensing the vapor and rinsing the wall of the tube.
BÜCHI Labortechnik AG CH-9230 Flawil/Switzerland T +41 71 394 63 63
www.buchi.com
Quality in your hands Circle no. 400
Spotlight
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