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Shuttle-Lab-Transfer (controlled relaxation of water samples under in-situ pressure)
Funding
The R&D Project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) according to a decision of the German Federal Parliament. Responsibility for the contents of this publication rests with the author.
Marketing: Umwelt- und Ingenieurtechnik GmbH Dresden
Project idea
The aim of the project is developing and providing a holistic solution from the autarkic ground water sampling with the Shuttle-Guard-System to the preparation for analytical measurements in the lab with assured preservation of mass balance.
The already developed Shuttle-Guard-System (product page of the manufacturer UIT GmbH Dresden) allows for the first time the acquisition of "authentic" groundwater samples. The sample is referred to as authentic because the system prevents the distorting effects of mass transport between groundwater, atmosphere, and casing water, gains the sample pressure-minimized, and retains it under in-situ pressure, among other things. This means, at the place where the sample is collected, the groundwater is undistorted. The pressure gradient-minimized extraction and retention of the groundwater sample preserves its essential state parameters. Thus, for example, outgassing effects that falsify mass balance are avoided or decisively minimized during sampling and transport.
Currently, there is no system on the market that allows a transfer of a sample obtained under pressure to the respective analyzer in the laboratory with an assured preservation of mass balance. Generally, the laboratory analyzers commonly used in environmental analysis work with water or gas samples under atmospheric pressure. That is, pressurized water samples must first be brought to atmospheric pressure before analysis. In this process, the condition and quality of the sample can change significantly, similar to the effects of a non-pressurized sampling.
With the Lab-Transfer-Module, on the other hand, the quality advance of the authentic groundwater samples is obtained up to the analytical measurements in the laboratory.
The findings from the development of the Lab-Transfer-Module are not only limited to samples from the Shuttle-Guard-System. The transfer of pressurized samples into a state suitable for analytical measurements has a substantially broader application spectrum and is, for example, of interest for water and fluid samples from geothermal and thermal water wells, and also from lakes (e.g., volcanic-influenced lakes) and oceans.
Acknowledgements
The underlying R & D works were sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy on the basis of a decision of the German Bundestag under the Fkz. MF120098. Responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the author.
Project Group Leader
Dr. rer. nat. Susann Berthold
email: sberthold@dgfz.de
Phone: +49 351/4050-673