Why Beacon?
The Best Methods for the Best Results
Beacon Environmental maintains the highest level of QA/QC procedures for analyzing soil gas samples. The list below summarizes the company's standard analytical procedures.
- Analysis by thermal desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS) following EPA Method 8260B
- Analytical results based on 5-point initial calibration
- Internal standards and surrogates included with each analysis
- System daily tunes
- Daily continuing calibration checks
- Method blanks
- Duplicate field samples
The company includes internal standards and surrogates with each sample analysis, as dictated by EPA Method 8260B, 1) to verify that the system was working properly, 2) to provide reference points for reliable correlation to all other samples, and 3) to present defensible data. Because passive soil gas samples are exposed to a wide range of contaminants and concentrations, it is extremely important to have a constant reference point for each analysis, which enables an accurate comparison between sample locations.
Other passive soil gas methods base their results on an external calibration method and calibrate at quantities that are greater than two orders of magnitude above their reporting limits, but refer to the process as being Method 8260. These methods also do not include internal standards or surrogates with each analysis to provide proof of performance ( that the analytical system was functioning properly for each and every analysis) and to provide consistent reference points for comparison of measured quantities.
Sample analyses are performed at Beacon Environmental’s in-house laboratory using state-of-the-art Markes International thermal desorption instruments, which use the patented DiffLok® caps to provide the most accurate and reliable data. Markes International instruments are designed by the scientists who developed EPA Method TO-17, the official method for analyzing adsorbent tubes. Markes International instruments offer numerous advantages over Perkin Elmer and other older thermal desorption equipment, which cannot target as broad a range of compounds with as much sensitivity and accuracy.
