Workshop 10: Detection and Quantitation Limits in Environmental Analysis

John Glaser, US EPA, Cincinnati, OH

Site assessment, remediation and compliance monitoring require the routine determination of the concentration of regulated substances in environmental samples.  Each measurement methodology, providing the concentration determinations, is required to specify key data quality elements for each determination.  Accuracy and precision statements of the measurement methodology, its detection limit (MDL) and practical limit of quantitation (PQL) are often used to characterize data sets.  The MDL and PQL are particularly important for highly toxic substances since regulatory thresholds are often set at or near the MDL or PQL.  The appropriate use of data in the MDL/PQL range requires a fundamental understanding of how method, analyst and laboratory dependent MDL and PQL values are obtained.  This workshop will explain and explore the fundamental concepts of MDL and PQL determinations and implications for use of MDL/PQL level measurements.

Workshop 11:  Aerobic and Anaerobic Bioremediation and Monitored Natural Attenuation of VOCs

Richard Sloan, Chickadee Remediation Company
Ellen Moyer, Ph.D., P.E., Senior Project Manager, Tighe & Bond, Inc.
Jonathan Greene, P.E., Project Manager, Malcolm Pirnie
Richard Woodward, President, Sierra Environmental Services, Inc.

The workshop will begin with a discussion of the types of microbial respiration processes that can be exploited in both engineered bioremediation and monitored natural attenuation (MNA).  These include aerobic respiration, denitrification, iron reduction, sulfate reduction, and methanogenesis.  Biodegradation pathways, showing intermediate compounds, will be discussed for VOCs commonly encountered at sites, including chlorinated solvents, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX), methyl tert butyl ether (MTBE), and tert butyl alchohol (TBA). 

The workshop will then explore engineered in situ and ex situ strategies for bioremediating VOCs using the aerobic and anaerobic respiration processes noted above.  Case studies of in situ and ex situ bioremediation will be presented, covering a wide range of site conditions and engineered bioremediation solutions, and including lessons learned from extensive field experience. 

The last part of the workshop will cover MNA of VOCs.  MNA includes physical processes (advection, dispersion, adsorption, diffusion, volatilization, and dilution), chemical reactions, and biological processes.  Regulators typically want to see a strong biological component before they will approve an MNA remedy for a site.  This part of the workshop will focus on ways to demonstrate that aerobic and/or anaerobic biodegradation is occurring at an acceptably rapid rate.

Workshop 12:  Environmental Fate of Hydrocarbons in Soils and Groundwater

James Dragun, Ph.D., The Dragun Corporation, Farmington Hills, MI

This course will cover predicting  bulk hydrocarbon migration, the extent of absorption of organic chemicals, chemical volatility in soil, organic chemical reaction rates and rates of organic chemicals in soils.   The information will be presented in the context of site remediation, site disposal facilities, and analyzing chemical releases, as well as auditing closures of industrial facilities.  James Dragun’s new book Soil Chemistry of Hazardous Materials, Second Edition, will be provided to registered participants.

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