Environmental Engineering Laboratories 

The  environmental engineering program within the College of Engineering, Architecture and Computer Sciences has several thousand square feet of laboratory space available for experimental and pilot scale research in seven (7) separate laboratories. All laboratory space is divided into work stations for students to conduct experiments and into dedicated microbiology, incineration, membrane, and instrumentation (2) laboratories. The incineration laboratory is vented and has sole use of the building stack and discharges to the atmosphere directly several stories high. The incineration laboratory is equipped with a Shirco Infrared Incinerator equipped with sampling trains for volatile and nonvolatile chemical emissions and a bench scale fluidized bed combustor. 

Two new laboratories have recently been constructed.  One is an analytical laboratory housing the 2 LC/MS instruments and providing a unique analytical capability in this area.  The second new lab is a pilot scale research laboratory being used for engineering analysis for treatment technologies.  The pilot lab has a separate water supply and waste disposal, is 2 stories high to accommodate columnar testing facilities, and wide access doors.  A special laboratory is an appropriately designed facility for hazardous and radioactive compound research.  The lab is separately air conditioned, has a separate air supply venting to the outdoors, may be entered without entering the building proper, and is provided with a locked separate storage area for research materials. 

The microbiology laboratories contain the necessary equipment for isolating, testing and identifying microorganisms and determining microbiological behavior. The instrumentation laboratories major pieces of analytical equipment include Perkin Elmer 403 and 3030 atomic absorption spectrophotometers, a Milton Roy Spectronic 601, a Waters 840 High-Pressure Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC), a HP 1050A Series Liquid Chromatograph, a Dionex Quaternary Gradient Ion Chromatograph, Hewlett Packard 5971A Gas Chromatograph /Mass Spectrometer, and Liquid Chromatograph /Mass Spectrometer.  In addition, several gas chromatographs (some equipped with sample concentrators) are located in work station areas and are dedicated to specific projects. The membrane technology laboratory is equipped with a UV spectrophotometer and several bench-scale membrane systems, including cross-flow.

Additional resources are also available in the Departments of Chemistry, Biology and Botany, including full chemical, biological and air quality control research facilities.