Battelle’s Partners—Vital to Success of Environmental Technology Verification Program

Organized around six technology centers, the Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has to date verified the performance of more than 200 commercially available technologies, thus quickening the pace at which they are used in the marketplace. Battelle partners with the EPA in managing the Advanced Monitoring Systems (AMS) Technology Center, which verifies technologies that monitor natural species and contaminants in air, water, and soil. In turn, Battelle’s partnerships with other organizations ensure the Center’s success.

The ETV program employs third-party, quality-assured verification testing to accelerate the implementation of environmental technologies. Buyers and users rely on ETV performance data to make informed purchase and application decisions. Battelle’s AMS Center partners have provided: sites and operating personnel for verification tests; reference measurements which form the basis for technology verification; funding; and an expert peer review of test plans and verification reports.

Among Battelle’s partners for AMS Center verification tests are:

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The DEP funded verification of four continuous emission monitors (CEMs) for mercury, which were tested at a pilot-scale combustion system, under varying mercury concentrations, particulate loading, and flue gas composition.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA’s Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research in Charleston, South Carolina, was the host site for a verification test of multiparameter water probes. NOAA personnel assisted Battelle in developing the test plan, supervised daily test activities, and collected reference samples for analysis.

U.S. Army. For a verification test of a multi-metal CEM, the U.S. Army’s Construction Engineering Research Laboratory provided a hazardous waste incinerator as a test facility, and supplied reference measurements, data reduction assistance, and personnel to operate the test facility.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) provided the host site and personnel with a verification test of 13 monitors that continuously measure fine particulate mass and species in ambient air. NETL also invited the public and other interested parties to tour the test site and observe the technologies in operation during a Technology Field Day.

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). EPRI has contributed funding for a verification test of ammonia CEMs to be scheduled at a coal-fired power plant during Spring/Summer 2003.

City of Columbus, Ohio. At a water treatment facility managed by the city’s Division of Water, two rounds of testing verified the performance of five continuous on-line turbidimeters.

For more information on AMS Technology Center verification tests, verified technologies, and opportunities for partnership, please contact Ms. Helen Latham at (614) 424-4062, lathamh@battelle.org.