Royal Military College of Canada

Research Groups

Analytical Sciences Group

Analytical Services

ASG operates a wide range of modern instrumentation for the analysis of organic, inorganic, radiological and microbiological parameters. The laboratory is able to offer analyses, technical advice on analytical results, supply sampling containers and analytical method development.

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The ASG is accredited by the Canadian Association for Environmental Analytical Laboratories (CAEAL), for specific tests listed in the scope of accreditation approved by CAEAL.

Capabilities

Determination of environmental contaminants in soil, sediment, water, biological and other matrices.
Radiological protection screening using liquid scintillation counting and gamma ray spectroscopy.
Neutron Radiography, especially applies to the non-destructive testing of Canadian Forces aircraft.
In addition to instrumentation within the laboratory, the ASG has access to other equipment within the department including a 300 MHz multinuclear NMR for solids and solutions (variable temperature), powder XRD (4-2273 K), SEM/EDX, FTIR and polymers characterization instrumentation (DSC, TGA, DMA, VPO, dilute solution viscometry and GPC).

Organic Analysis

An appreciation of organic contamination in the environment and food chain is a recent phenomenon. Synthetic products, such as organochlorine PCBs and DDT, were for many years applauded for their utility and apparent stability. More recent evidence of toxicological and reproductive effects has resulted in vigorous efforts to identify these materials in the environment and accomplish their safe disposal. In other cases, the ubiquitous nature of organic fuels and solvents has lead to their inadvertent contamination of soils and ground water.
The ASG possesses eight Gas Chromatographs for organic analyses with a variety of environmental detectors including five Flame Ionization Detectors (FID), five Electron Capture Detectors (ECD), one mECD, two quadrupole mass spectrometers and one ion trap mass spectrometer. In addition, one GC-MS system is coupled to a Purge and Trap concentrator for Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) analyses and a dedicated GC-FID system for CCME-PHC F1 fraction determinations.
Analysis Suites
- Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
- Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds – Acid & Base/Neutrals Extractables (ABNs)
- Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH)
- Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB)
- PCB Congeners
- Pesticides (Chlorinated and Non-Chorinated)
- Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment - Petroleum Hydrocarbons (CCME-PHC)
- Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH)
- Chemical warfare agents and hydrolysis products

Automated Pressurized Solvent Extraction
Agilent 6890 Gas Chromatograph – 5973 Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer / Electron Capture Detector / Flame Ionization Detector
Thermo Trace GC - PolarisQ Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer
Tekmar Velocity Purge & Trap Concentrator and Tekmar Aquatek 70 Autosampler.
Hewlett Packard 3000 Purge & Trap Concentrator and Tekmar 2016 Autosampler

Inorganic Analysis

Metals
- Although the toxicity of certain heavy metals has been known since antiquity, these elements continue to be mobilised in the environment by commercial mining and the re-utilisation or amelioration of brown field sites. ASG provides metal analyses from a range of organic, inorganic and aqueous media. Analytical resources are tailored to the specific metals under investigation and the level of matrix contamination. Atomic absorbance and inductively coupled plasma instruments afford metal analyses with varying detection limits. ICP-MS quadruple facilities offer state-of-the-art element and isotope detection with minimal isobaric interference.
- Elemental and isotopic analyses can be conducted at the ASG using quadrupole Inductively Coupled Plasma – Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) equipped with collision cell technology to minimize polyatomic interferences. In addition a Cold Vapour – Atomic Absorbance (CV-AA) analyzer is used for the analysis of mercury.

CEM MARS Express Microwave Digestion
Thermo X Series Inductively Coupled Plasma - Mass Spectrometer
Perkin-Elemer Cold Vapour - Atomic Absorbance Instrument

Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA)
- This SLOWPOKE-2 Nuclear facility is operated within the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at RMC-CMR on behalf of the Department of National Defence (DND). This facility readily provides neutron fluxes for NAA in addition to operating as a teaching, training and research instrument.
- NAA offers a highly sensitive method of elemental analysis for greater than 40 elements with several advantages, including:
  - Non-destructive testing of solid matrices without sample digestion, which may prove preferable to Atomic Absorbance (AA) or Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) techniques where the original matrix is not amenable to digestion or dissolution.
  - Variable neutron flux permitting analyses of thermally sensitive materials
  - Automated sample exposure and analysis
- The Facility is able analyze various matrices for all the NAA friendly elements, both those with very short half-lives such as fluorine-19 and long half-life isotopes such as cobalt-60.
- ASG clients, especially DND, find NAA very useful for a variety of applications, for instance:
  - Total chlorine content of (waste) oils.
  - Extractable organic chlorine content of waste disposal sites.
  - Analysis of sediments and mine tailings for total arsenic content.
  - Copper in plastics.
  - g-Ray spectroscopy is also performed on soils, water and other environmental samples.
  - Short-lived radioisotopes can be produced by neutron activation. Such isotopes are used for training emergency first responders in a safe, environmentally responsible manner to work in contaminated areas.

Slowpoke-2 Nuclear Facility

General Chemistry
- pH
- Conductivity
- Alkalinity
- Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
- Major environmental anions by Ion Chromatography (Fluoride, Chloride, Nitrate, Nitrite, Bromide, Phosphate, Sulphate)
- Phosphorous (Total, Extractable and Soluble)
- Nitrogen: Total Kjehldahl Nitrogen (TKN) and Available (inorganic) Nitrogen (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite)
- Particle Size Analysis
- Total Suspended Solids/Total Dissolved Solids (TSS/TDS)

Metrohm Ion Chromatograph with Conductivity and UV-Vis Detectors
Astoria Auto-Analyzer with Colorimetric Detector
Visible Spectrophotometer

Radiological Screening
- Liquid Scintillation Counting (LSC)
  - Nuclear Isotope Safety
  - The ASG has expertise in the general area of nuclear science and also provides services for the counting of swab samples in order to monitor radiation. Alpha and beta emitting isotopes may be present in the home, workplace or general environment, natural radioactive decay and radioactive sources such as smoke detectors being significant. ASG's Nuclear Isotope Safety and Compliance laboratory performs surface swipe and sealed/unsealed radiation leak testing using Liquid Scintillation techniques.
    - Surface swipe analyses: H³, Ra²²⁶and Th²³²
    - Leak checks: Ni⁶³, Cs¹³⁷ and Am²⁴¹
    - Environmental isotopes: C¹⁴
  - In addition to CAEAL accreditation, the laboratory also satisfies AECB standard R-116 for leak testing and has participated in blind test exchanges.

Liquid Scintillation Counting

Gamma Ray Spectroscopy – Canadian Forces Nuclear Emergency Response (NER) programme.
- Gamma-ray spectrometry is able to determine the activity of individual radionuclides in activated and inherently radioactive materials
- The technique is widely used in environmental due diligence studies to determine:
  - Absence of radioactive emissions for the visits of nuclear powered and nuclear capable vessels to Canadian ports.
  - Trace levels of radioactivity in the decommissioning of sites where radionuclides were historically used.
  - Natural and artificial radioactivity in the locations of Canadian Forces abroad.

Neutron Radiography
- The RMC-CMR reactor was installed in 1985 with Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis as its principal role. However, the facility also provides a source of low intensity thermal neutrons that may be applied to Neutron Radiography. The latter focuses neutron fluxes into broad collimated beams that may be safely used outside the reactor container. These beams may be detected as 35 cm x 43 cm images using digital radioscopy. Objects placed within the beam afford two-dimensional images similar to those produced by familiar X-ray films