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LABORATORY SERVICES

Obtaining accurate data is the critical first step in defining any environmental problem and an important component in its solution. META is committed to providing high quality laboratory data to all of our clients.

In 2011, META set up and verified ASTM Method D 7363 - pore water testing using solid phase microextraction (SPME), and analyzed dozens of pore water samples for PAHs in support of risk assessment.

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META is one of the few laboratories in the world routinely analyzing samples by ASTM D 7363-13

Specialty Services

In addition to routine environmental tests, META and partner laboratories provide:

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  • Environmental forensic testing of PAHs and alkylated PAHs (petrogenic and pyrogenic discrimination); PAH source allocation

  • Petroleum fingerprinting and biomarker analysis, including gasoline and light refined product characterization (PIANO)

  • PCB congeners and PCB source identification studies

  • Microscale analytical methods development and application

  • Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME) of sediment pore water

  • Compound-specific stable isotope analyses and evaluation for hydrocarbons and chlorinated compounds

  • Bioavailability and degradation studies

  • Transport and fate studies

  • ISCO and other treatability studies

  • Geochemistry assessment and natural attenuation studies

  • Analytical method development

  • Data validation and data usability assessment

Working with GTI and member utilities, META collected and analyzed samples of biogas from dairy waste, landfills, and waste water treatment for a broad spectrum of minor constituents including hydrocarbons, pesticides, PCBs, and animal care products.

META has earned a national reputation for excellence in many areas, including:

  • Environmental forensic studies

  • Manufactured Gas Plant (MGP) and coal tar chemistry including: DNAPL and LNAPL composition, transport and fate assessment; cyanide complex chemistry and evaluation of other related waste by-products

  • Petroleum chemistry including: gasoline and diesel composition; source differentiation; age of release estimation

  • PCB, PCDD, and PCDF chemistry, sources, analytical methods, and environmental weathering

  • Low-level PAH analyses in difficult matrices

  • Background PAH sources and distributions

  • Sediment characterization and assessment

  • Wood-treating chemistry, fate and transport, including creosote, pentachlorophenol (PCP), CCA, and wood treating alternatives

  • Remediation-based bench-scale treatability testing

  • Porewater sampling and analysis, including SPME

META designed and conducted bench-scale treatability studies of permanganate, persulfate, and ozone destruction of explosive intermediates. This work included the development and implementation of an innovative chemical analysis scheme to monitor treatment progress. 

Selected as the forensic experts for the city of Bangor, Maine on PAH contamination of the Penobscot River, META conducted extensive laboratory testing of NAPL and sediment to characterize sources of PAHs in the river.

For 23 years, the laboratory group at META provided clients with a range of specialty testing services. In 2013, META sold its laboratory group; and since that time, we have worked with a partner laboratory to continue to provide the high quality, services that META’s laboratory was known for. Today, META provides project planning, costing, experiment design, oversight, QA/QC review, and data interpretive services. We use our experience to help clients get the data they need. 

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