Lake Forest College engineering lab

Environmental Reclamation

The following technologies are used to clean up contaminated sites during enviromental reclamation work: Gas Chromatography (GC) is the most widely used chromatographic technique for environmental analyses, and is used onsite in field investigations and by offsite reference laboratories. Immunoassay technologies use antibodies to identify and quantify organic compounds and a limited number of metallic analytes. This technique is used widely for environmental field analysis because the antibodies can be highly specific to the target compounds. Mass Spectrometry is an established analytical technique that identifies organic compounds by measuring the mass of the compound's molecule. Although mass spectrometry can be used for the analysis of metals, non-metallic elements and radionuclides, it is most generally used for organic analysis as a field analytical technique.

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a geophysical method that has been developed for shallow, high-resolution, subsurface investigations of the earth. GPR uses high frequency pulsed electromagnetic waves to acquire subsurface information. Magnetics for Environmental Applications are used to locate subsurface iron, nickel, cobalt and their alloys which are typically referred to as ferrous materials. The technology has been widely used for quickly locating buried or subsurface cultural ferrous objects that could pose a potential threat to the environment or by assisting remediation efforts.