Elemental analyzer for isotope ratio mass spectrometer for carbon and nitrogen isotope measurements

要求资金购买元素分析仪，与质谱仪结合，用于测定固体、液体和气体样品中碳和氮化合物的同位素组成。所获得的同位素组成作为示踪剂，提供了环境中碳和氮的来源和生物地球化学历史的信息。新的仪器将使申请人及其同事、博士后、研究助理、研究生和本科生能够在全球碳和氮循环的许多方面进行创新研究，包括以下内容：1)确定加拿大地表水和地下水中硝酸盐的来源和命运；2)评估人为注入油田的二氧化碳的命运；虽然注入二氧化碳主要是为了提高采收率（EOR），但预计二氧化碳的地下储存可能会对减少加拿大人为二氧化碳排放做出重大贡献；3)通过研究储层沥青原位改造的可行性，改进加拿大大型油砂资源的开发方法；目标是显著减少油砂开采的环境足迹；4)确保加拿大煤层气资源开采过程中的环境无害化做法；5)研究营养物质进入河流对水生食物网的影响；6)研究食物网和湖泊沉积对全球碳循环的影响；7)通过重建史前人类饮食为考古研究做出贡献。新获得的仪器还将在培训许多不同学科的新一代学生方面发挥关键作用，为加拿大自然资源的可持续和无害环境开发做出贡献。

Funds are requested to purchase an elemental analyzer to be combined with a mass spectrometer for determining isotopic compositions of carbon and nitrogen compounds in solid, liquid, and gaseous samples. The obtained isotopic compositions serve as tracers that provide information about the sources and the biogeochemical history of carbon and nitrogen in the environment. The new instrumentation will enable the applicant and his colleagues, their postdoctoral fellows, research associates, graduate students and undergraduate students to conduct innovative research on many aspects of the global carbon and nitrogen cycles including the following: 1) determine sources and the fate of nitrate in surface water and groundwater in Canada; 2) assess the fate of anthropogenic CO2 injected into oil fields; while CO2 is injected primarily for the purpose of enhanced oil recovery (EOR), it is anticipated that subsurface storage of CO2 may contribute significantly to reducing Canada's anthropogenic CO2 emissions;   3) improve methods to exploit Canada's large oilsand resources by investigating the feasibility for in-situ upgrading of bitumen in the reservoir; the goal is to significantly reduce the environmental footprint of oilsands recovery; 4) ensure environmentally sound practices during the exploitation of Canada's coalbed methane resources; 5) investigate the influence of nutrient release into rivers on aquatic food webs, 6) study the influence of food webs and sedimentation in lakes on the global carbon cycle, and 7) contribute to archaeological research via reconstruction of prehistoric human diets. The newly obtained instrumentation will also play a pivotal role in training a new generation of students in many different disciplines contributing to sustainable and environmentally sound exploitation of Canada's natural resources.