Every now and then we get a call for the unusual, something so out of the ordinary that we simply have to invent a solution. Normally, it is something small, but always it is a joy to put the "Little Gray Cells" to work with a client to solve a problem. Here are some recent examples:
How do you take sufficient oxygen into space for a Mars trip? Gas based sources are too diffuse; most liquid sources require cryogenic conditions - creating havoc for the energy budget of a space mission as distance from the sun increases. What about Nitrous Oxide? A liquid at room temperature, it can be separated efficiently into oxygen and nitrogen (by using a proprietary process developed by a NASA contractor), carrying proportionately large amounts of oxygen into space. But, the process needed monitoring. By adapting our GC/TCD instrument, we were able to effectively and quickly test the post-processing gas for N2O. By giving rapid turn around, the process design could be altered almost daily to reflect improving results.
At the fringe of a major urban area in the Rockies, a canal has been used for years both as an irrigation and industrial waste-water drain into a lake. Extensive organic and other contamination has traveled into the lake, and has contaminated the bed of the canal. The remediation of the canal is a high priority for the EPA and the state. Sampling of the canal muds presented a challenge, as the locations were not accessible via boat and the canal wandered through wetlands with little vehicle access. Water depths ranged from 2-6 feet. ESN and its client decided to combine hand sampling on a cherry picker and ATV sampling in portions of the canal that had been filled. The hand sampling involved use of a suction-piston sampler to obtain semi-consolidated, saturated mud from the canal bottom, followed by use of traditional piston sampling to get discrete samples for analysis and vertical profiling. The project was a complete success, and no one had to take a swim.
An importer of rubber cements was suddenly faced with the possibilty that their product contained too much benzene or other aromatic hydrocarbons. A state regulatory agency was ready to pull the plug and ban the sale of this cement unless a new MSDS was developed to reflect actual concentrations. We quickly adapted an environmental analytical method to the cement and conducted triplicate analyses to document the lower than reported concentration of the lots of cement received to date. This allowed thousands of tubes to be sold safely in the U.S. and saved the importer both time and money.
So, let us know about your seemingly impossible problem and we will devise an extraordinary solution.