Efficient & robust PFAS extractions for environmental labs with ETHOS X

Advanced Environmental Laboratories, Inc. (AEL), a leading laboratory, ranks among the nation’s top ten true environmental laboratories. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, AEL operates eight strategically located TNI/NELAP -certified laboratories throughout the state with unparalleled support state and nationwide, including the Caribbean. With a 30-year legacy supporting environmental services, AEL is actively growing and advancing sustainability efforts. From serving local municipalities to handling federal projects at DOD military bases and EPA Superfund sites, annually they assist over 1,000 clients and contribute to 50,000 projects across vigorous sectors. Today, AEL has invested in building a dedicated facility to address emerging contaminants with a keen focus on PFAS. Servicing various client types, the need for efficiency to process PFAS samples has been a focus of management to provide best-in-class turnaround-time for PFAS.

AEL provides soil and biosolids PFAS analyses under EPA Method 1633A. Each batch of 20 samples requires about three hours to extract, a process that can add pressure on resources and make expedited turnaround more demanding as client needs continue to grow. The capabilities of Milestone’s ETHOS X with XTR-44 position rotor allow AEL to process 44 samples/QC in as little as 20 minutes using microwave extraction. The elevated temperature, use of disposable polypropylene vials and elimination of excess transfer/handling steps speeds up processing and avoids the risks associated with multiple handling and shaker table extractions to provide reproducible data. The XTR-44 rotor employs active stirring of each vial utilizing rare earth magnets that are PFAS-free. These advantages were behind AEL’s implementation of this technology

The flexibility allowed in EPA 1633A provided AEL with the impetus to adopt the microwave approach. The initial demonstration of capability, comparison data and all recoveries exceeded EPA 1633A requirements and showed enhanced recoveries of some of the difficult PFAS and heavier PFAS species in real world samples. By using the XTR-44 high-throughput rotor, AEL has been able to carry out sample extractions of up to 34 samples plus batch QC in a single microwave run using half the LC/MS grade methanol per sample and significantly less labor and elapsed time.
AEL has also expanded their extractions instrumentation capabilities with the addition of Milestone’s ETHOS X fastEX-24 extraction systems and ETHOS UP digestion systems in several of their laboratories. These investments ensure all sample preparations are highly efficient vs. other preparation techniques. The efficiency, cost savings on labor and solvent, and enhanced employee safety were impetus for the implementation.