Jacksonville, Fla. - Columbia Analytical has hired four new employees at their Jacksonville, Florida laboratory in effort to increase their level of customer service.

Karenza Fedele joined Columbia Analytical as the new Quality Assurance (QA) Manager. Fedele has more than 11 years of work experience with Pace Analytical/ELAB in Ormond Beach. She will be responsible for the overall implementation and management of the laboratory QA program.

Janet Jones was hired as the primary Lachat Analyst in the wet chemistry department. Jones joined Columbia Analytical after working as a scientist with Kroll Laboratory Specialists in Louisiana.

James Nicholson accepted supervisor responsibilities for the volatiles section. Nicholson will manage instrument retrofit and method development efforts for RSK-175. He joins Columbia Analytical with more than 11 years experience as an analyst and laboratory volatiles supervisor.

The volatiles section was formerly lead by Jerry Allen. He has been promoted into a full-time project management role.

Cheslea Lovejoy was hired as an instrument analyst (GC/MS, GC/ECD and GC/FID), and has a role in method development, specifically for low level 8082 analysis (GC/ECD) and PCB congener analysis in conjunction with PAH analysis (GC/MS SIM). She joins Columbia Analytical after five years experience as an analyst.

For more information on Columbia Analytical - Jacksonville, please contact Andre Rachmaninoff at 904.739.2277 or visit the company’s website at www.caslab.com.

SIMI VALLEY, California — Columbia Analytical Services, Inc. announces it has established a reliable test protocol for identifying odor and corrosion problems in drywall. The tests identify problems with drywall, generally reported as “Chinese drywall,” that initially affected many homes in the southeastern United States.

“Our team has developed three technically superior and legally-defensible analytical tests related to the drywall problem,” said Michael Tuday, Director of Research and Development at Columbia Analytical’s Simi Valley, California laboratory. “We have been studying the issue and testing both foreign and domestic drywall samples since February, 2008, and are excited to have found a testing solution to isolate this problem.”

The Simi Valley laboratory confirmed that hydrogen sulfide is one of the major contributing agents causing the corrosion. With its characteristic rotten egg smell, hydrogen sulfide is a likely contributor to reported odors in affected homes. Other researchers have also identified iron disulfide (pyrite) and strontium sulfide as possible corrosion culprits, as well.

Researchers at Columbia Analytical also determined the drywall in question contains a naturally occurring allotrope of elemental sulfur and have developed a novel means of quantifying orthorhombic cyclooctasulfur (S₈) in drywall via analysis by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). In tests to-date, this sulfur allotrope is a unique and reliable marker in drywall products causing corrosion problems and has only been found in drywall imported from China.

Columbia Analytical has developed an innovative chamber test procedure for the measurement of hydrogen sulfide at ultra-low levels in suspect drywall. To confirm corrosivity, a jar test is used to document copper corrosion in the presence of test drywall samples.

These laboratory tests may be used to confirm visual home inspections and to demonstrate that corrosion effects are due to drywall and not other items in the home, such as carpets, cleaners, paints, or personal care products.

Columbia Analytical is an employee-owned, full-service environmental analytical network with laboratories and service centers nationwide. The company’s expertise encompasses air, water, dioxin, biological, pharmaceutical, and solid and hazardous waste analyses.

For more information about drywall testing, contact Alyson Fortune at 978.501.2735 or visit Columbia Analytical’s website at www.caslab.com.

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In support of MACT standards, CAS has been working with the National Council of Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI) to bring NCASI Method 99.02 (Impinger/Canister Source Sample Method for Selected Compounds at Wood Products Facilities) on line. The procedure calls for a number of changes that will require careful communication between the source testers and laboratory personnel. Since the method is intended to be prescriptive, no modifications are allowed. Thus, CAS is bringing the laboratory portion of the procedure on line without modification.

Our laboratory in Simi Valley will be performing the canister portion of the procedure (i.e. gas analysis). The analysis is performed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The target compound list will generally consist of Methanol, Acetaldehyde, Acrolein, Phenol, and Propionaldehyde. In addition, Benzene will be required for many applications. The laboratory will also have the capability to analyze for the full suite of compounds included in Method 99.02.

Our Kelso laboratory is doing the aqueous impinger work, which includes Methanol, Acetaldehyde, Acrolein, Phenol, and Propionaldehyde by gas chromatography/flame ionization detection (GC/FID) fitted with a chilled autosampler. Formaldehyde is analyzed using a colorimetric procedure.

Simi Valley will prepare a spiked canister and ship it to the field with the other canisters. Kelso will prepare the field spike solutions for the impingers, as well as the internal standard spike solution. Note that two spike concentrations will be recommended in order to comply with the procedure because of the risk of not correctly predicting the appropriate concentrations of the source. Since the method allows for an alternative approach of preparing a high level and low level matrix spike, this probably will be the preferred practice for the impinger samples to avoid out of compliance matrix spike results. A single spike will be done for the gas sampling.