Acquisition of an Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometer for Environmental and Material Sciences at Penn State

The inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) is a sensitive and versatile instrument for measuring the concentration of many common elements in solution. By providing an efficient means of determining levels of concentration, this analytical tool is indispensable in studying the fate, transport, and reactivity of major and trace elements in pristine and contaminated rocks, waters, and wastes. At Penn State (PSU), ICP-AES is an important instrument for research and training for undergraduate and graduate students. Funds from this grant from both the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy will be used to purchase a Perkin-Elmer Optima 5300 DV ICP-AES system for a total package cost of about $87,000. Penn State will guarantee the salary of the permanent senior chemist to run the facility. Within all Colleges represented in this proposal, coursework is in place or accessible for introduction of students to analysis using ICP-AES. For example, in the Department of Geosciences, it is estimated that approximately 20-50 students per year are exposed to the ICP-AES laboratory for environmental analysis of waters and soils from the local area. Additionally, up to 50 users per year from various PSU academic departments and other universities make use of this instrumentation in a number of research or class projects, for approximately 1100 hours/year. The availability of such an instrument will encourage and stimulate many projects in the area of environmental and materials studies among PSU faculty, and also encourage research by faculty from surrounding colleges and universities.