FACILITIES

Located in Chauvenet Hall on the Colorado School of Mines campus,
the CESEP experimental labs occupy over 4000 square feet.

CESEP lab

They include a high-bay area suitable for large-scale experimental tanks and flow cells, two analytical labs, and a dedicated X-ray room. The labs and major analytical devices are described in the following paragraphs.

X-ray Attenuation Device
The CESEP X-ray attenuation device is contained within a custom-designed mobile frame capable of precise vertical and horizontal positioning. Three motors together control the horizontal axis, the vertical position of the X-ray tube, and the vertical position of the detector over a 10ft by 5ft vertical plane. All of the motors are controlled by a Baldor Smartmove embedded controller which in turn responds to commands sent from custom LabVIEW driver programs running on a host computer.

x-ray
The X-ray source is a Pantak model HF100 device which is capable of producing photons with energies up to 100keV. The intensity (voltage and amperage) of the X-ray source is manually controlled. The X-ray source enclosure is designed to hold numerous X-ray filters and an integral, fail-safe shutter. The beam is collimated with adjustable aperatures typically ranging from 1mm diameter to 10x10mm square. Given the dimensions of the frame, flow cells up to 33cm in width can fit between the X-ray source and the detector.


The X-ray detector used here is a liquid-nitrogen-cooled Princeton Gamma Tech (PGT) High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) device coupled with a PGT SYS4004 multichannel analyzer. The detector has 4096 channels and is capable of 0.5 keV energy resolutions (FWHM) at 60keV. The detector is controlled by the host computer over a serial line through custom LabVIEW software.

Overall, the X-ray system has been optimized for throughput. Individual measurements have been made in less than ten seconds, including both the detector counting times and the waits necessary for motor positioning.

Dual-Gamma Attenuation Device
Located the high-bay area, the CESEPs dual-gamma device is mounted on a frame similar to the X-ray system. It is capable of precise positioning in a vertical plane that is over 35ft long and 5ft high. The motor positioning is set and recorded by custom LabVIEW programs which communicate (over RS-232) with a Baldor embedded controller.

Dual-Gamma Attenuation Device

Gamma rays are produced by two sealed radioisotope sources:

which are contained within a collimated source enclosure. The relative strengths of the two gamma sources can be tuned through selective filtering to provde maximum accuracy/precision for the simultaneous measurement of water and oil saturations.

The detector used for the dual-gamma system is a photomultiplier device coupled with an Ortec 918A multichannel buffer. The detector is controlled by custom LabVIEW programs that communicate with the MCB over a serial line (RS232).

GC and HPLC Chromatography

GC and microGC systems

IC & UV systems

The CESEP analytical Laboratory is equipped with a variety of analytic instruments:

HP6890 GC (FID/ECD)
This Hewlett-Packard gas chromatographs has dual columns and dual detectors (FID and ECD), is used for determine regular to trace amount different kinds of organic chemicals and chlorinated solvent in the environment samples and samples from laboratory experiments in the CESEP.

Algient P200 Micro GC
This micro GC system is portable and can be used both in the lab and field site for gas sample analysis. The unique feature of this micro GC is very short running time; normal running time for mixed gases is less than 2 minutes. This system is used for quantitative measuring CO2, H2S, O2, CH2 and H2 from bioprocesses and other reaction and for gas phase PCE and TCE concentrations.

Dionex DX 600 IC/HPLC Systems
This system has both conductivity and UV detector, is capable to quantitatively analyze for different anions (Br-, PO43-, SO42-, Cl-, etc.) cations (Li+, Na+, NH4+ , K+, Ca+, Mg+ etc.,) and organic acids. With the UV detector, this system also is able to measure organic compounds (include: PAHs, PCE, TCE, etc.). This system have been routinely used for measuring Br and five basic anions (F-, Cl-, NO3- , PO43- and SO42- ) and six basic cations (Li+, Na+, NH4+ , K+, Ca+ and Mg+) of samples from column, 2D cell and 3D tank experiments.

UV/VIS PE Lambda 40
This system is routinely used for measuring concentration of organic, inorganic compound, and surfactant. It also used for measuring emulsion and bacteria concentration in our experiments.

Goniometer

Goniometer
This basic Goniometer enables us to make contact angle determinations under ambient conditions in a moments’ time. With the micro-syringe and Polaroid camera attachments, the pendant drop method can be used in this system. The pendant drops offer a convenient method of determining the surface tension of a liquid or the interfacial tension between two liquids.

Visual Imaging
Th e CESEP lab contains numerous devices for visual imaging. Two digital cameras:

are controlled (either simultaneously or independently) through custom software on a Linux workstation. The cameras are capable of continuous, fixed-time-interval image capture for time-lapse photography and stills. The controlling computer also acts as a web server so that all images can be made available in real-time for remote inspection.

A variety of dyes are available to help elucidate the flow and transport phenomena. They include combinations of hydrophyllic, lyophyllic, and flourescent compounds. Time-lapse photographs of dyed tracers and oils are an extremely convenient method for comparing flow cell results with numerical model simulations.

Computing Facilities
Located in both Coolbaugh and Chauvenet Halls, the computing facilities include the following machines:

© 2006 CESEP
contact webmaster