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Department of Environmental Sciences Professor Ed Overton
has invented a device that can help solve environmental
problems while contributing to economic development in Louisiana.
His invention, the microFAST GC, is a small, fast, gas chromatographic
(GC) instrument that will promote analytical efficiency
over a broad spectrum of field and laboratory applications.
Overton’s invention can help provide an answer to
the question, “How can Louisiana ensure adequate and
reasonable environmental quality for its citizens and protection
of its natural resources considering that Louisiana’s
most significant economic sector, chemical production and
manufacturing, inherently involves emissions to our state’s
air, land, and water?”
The microFAST GC provides analytical technology that can
detect emissions at their source in real–time, thereby
allowing manufacturers to act quickly to eliminate pollution
before it becomes a hazard to the public. Traditionally,
gas chromatography is done in a laboratory, meaning that
samples must be collected, transported to the lab, and then
analyzed, losing valuable time. The small, portable microFAST
GC can be used to monitor chemical manufacturing processes
for efficient production as well as monitor for toxic chemicals
in air and water samples, thus helping protect Louisiana’s
significant environmental resources.
“The microFAST GC is an LSU invention that solves
environmental problems and contributes to economic development
in Louisiana in several different ways,” said Overton.
His Louisiana:Vision 2020 (www.led.state.la.us/vision2020/)
company, Analytical Specialists, Inc. (ASI) will market
the microFAST GC. Clients of ASI include the Louisiana Department
of Environmental Quality, AgroFresh, Sagen, Sandia National
Labs, and Plantation Pipeline. A company in Toulouse, France,
uses the instrument as part of a line of electronic noses,
or e-noses, for odors associated with foods and beverages.
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ASI
has licensed three of Overton’s patents from LSU: |
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#5,611,846 upon
which the current version of the microFAST GC is designed;
#5,846,292 uses the analytical column as the concentrator/injector
as well as the analytical separator;
#6,068,684 involves a microfabricated structure using tall
narrow rectangular tubes (high aspect ratio microstructures)
as the column for a “GC Sensor on a chip.” |
The
ASI microFAST GC will have significant positive impacts on
chemical plants in the areas of: |
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operations
(real-time analysis resulting in less waste and loss of products),
safety (real-time analysis of chemical hazards),
productivity (real-time analysis of finished products),
profitability
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The microFAST GC and other products
Overton is developing will significantly enhance the analytical
efficiency of chemical manufacturing and energy production
facilities and thus positively support Louisiana’s
largest economic sectors. The chemical industry is a $1,500
billion annual business worldwide with market segments including
basic industrial chemicals, fertilizers, specialty chemicals,
life science chemicals, and consumer products. The gas chromatograph
market is estimated to be more than $1 billion worldwide,
with gas chromatography being the single most widely used
analytical instrument in the chemical manufacturing industry.
All worldwide petrochemical plants extensively use gas chromatography
for process control, product quality monitoring, and chemical
detection for health, safety, and environmental concerns.
Overton is currently developing a revolutionary new GC instrument
smaller than the size of a cellular telephone.concerns.
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