CARO News

Hydrocarbons In Water Sampling Container Changes

Posted on August 27, 2015

CARO is always on the lookout for opportunities to save our clients time and money on their sampling projects and make collecting samples as easy (and fun!) as possible.  The recent approval of a new BC Provincial EPH in water extraction method was the perfect opportunity to do just that, all the while reducing the amount of waste that is generated by the analytical testing process.

The CHANGES:

Container changes are listed in Table 1 below.  Please note the bottle size change, the fill level change and the new container code.  We are beginning to include this code on all of our bottles in preparation for deploying an online supplies ordering system.  We are very excited about this new initiative. Please contact us if you would like to sign up for beta testing before it goes live in the fall.

Table 1 – Sample Container Volume Reductions and New Container IDs

These changes will not impact the high quality of data you have come to expect from CARO, nor our ability to meet your project regulatory and detection limit needs.  Also, for an interim period, we will still be able to accept and analyze any old containers you may have for the relevant analyses.

The BENEFITS:

As always, please do not hesitate to drop us a line if you have and questions or concerns; as with anything laboratory related, we are here to help guide you through it!

Richmond lab: (604) 279-1499; [email protected]
Kelowna lab: (250) 765-9646 or toll free (877) 769-9646; [email protected]
Email: [email protected] or Twitter: @caroanalytical
Full Contacts Here

For people who like a little more information, below are some additional details:

The SCIENCE:

Recent investigative activity on behalf of the BCELTAC has led to the adaptation of a new BC Laboratory Manual method for the extraction of EPHs in the water matrix.  Changes to this methodology were spurred by discussions surrounding the efficacy of currently applied extraction methods to specifically target the petrogenic (non-natural) hydrocarbons, which are significantly more toxic than their naturally-occurring counterparts.

The newly implemented methodology involves a Microscale Solvent Extraction (MSE) process using Hexane as the extraction solvent, and is performed in-situ.  Hexane offers an interesting advantage in that its non-polar property allows it to be more ‘selective’ in the extraction process, versus the more polar solvents that are currently implemented.  To coin a high school chemistry phrase, “like dissolves like”; non-polar solvent will targeting the non-polar petroleum based hydrocarbons with greater affinity than the more polar, naturally occurring EPHs, potentially reducing the need for Silica Gel clean-ups in certain cases.

To see a full updated list of all of our containers, please click here.