Lab-on-a-Chip Sensor for Monitoring Perchlorate in Ground and Surface Water
Abstract
Perchlorate is a pervasive water contaminant that has drawn national attention as a public health concern. Although perchlorate contamination has both natural and anthropogenic origins, its recurrent use in military munitions makes perchlorate the highest-priority military pollutant. Currently, perchlorate detection at the critical parts-per-billion level requires large, sophisticated instrumentation in a centralized laboratory. This report describes a fieldable, microchip capillary electrophoresis (MCE) device that is selective for perchlorate and exhibits reduced analysis times and reagent consumption. The device employs contact conductivity detection and zwitterionic surfactant chemistry to selectively resolve perchlorate from abundant environmental species such as chloride, nitrate, and sulfate. The prototype MCE system is capable of detection limits of 3.4 + or - 1.8 ppb in standards and 5.6 + or - 1.7 ppb in drinking water. Additional work modified the microchip geometry and separation chemistry, to account for higher ionic strength sample matrices such as surface and ground water, which cause interferences with perchlorate detection. A novel extraction method, incorporating the fundamentals of electrostatic ion chromatography (EIC), is presented as a way to overcome this challenge. Two extraction formats, employing either a packed bed or a monolith, were also investigated and presented in this work.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA559180
Entities
People
- Charles S. Henry
- Donald M. Cropek
- Imee G. Arcibal
- Jana C. Gertsch
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center