Acquisition of an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer for a multi-user facility for geological, biogeochemical, and environmental research

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Cornell University seeks to establish a multi-user elemental analytical facility with an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) for the analysis of a wide variety of samples for environmental, geological, energy, and ecological research. ICP-OES is capable of rapid and sensitive multi-element analysis in a variety of sample matrices, and is a robust technology well-suited for serving a broad user base. Active research foci at Cornell that will greatly benefit from ICP-OES include geothermal energy, environmental aqueous and soil geochemistry, igneous and metamorphic petrology, biogeochemistry, environmental engineering, geological carbon sequestration, and tight gas exploitation by hydraulic fracturing, as well as material sciences. A significant expansion of state of the art facilities for elemental analysis will enable a wide variety of research at Cornell and our regional higher education partners. The facility will support projects ranging from the development of exotic metal catalysts for fuel cells, to recovering the chemistry of the ancient oceans, to understanding the mechanisms of metal transport in subsurface brines, to magmatic processes associated with volcanism, and beyond. The new instrumentation will be used to directly address regional environmental issues, such as quantifying the impacts of acid rain on forest nutrient supply and the impacts of hydraulic fracturing in natural gas exploration on water quality. We plan to integrate hands on education in analytical techniques and data quality control/quality assurance for students from Cornell and regional colleges.