Michael Ebitson
Recent Posts
What do you need to know about concentrating PFAS Analytes?
April 7, 2022 at 2:00 PM / by Michael Ebitson posted in Solid-phase extraction, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS, solvent evaporation, evaporation systems
Where Does Wastewater Come From?
March 24, 2022 at 5:00 PM / by Michael Ebitson posted in wastewater, US EPA 625.1, epa method 608.3, wastewater testing, wastewater sources
I can remember asking myself this question many years ago at my first environmental laboratory job. I was manually shaking out separatory funnels for EPA 625 and 608 and each sample looked drastically different from the next as I was pouring them into each separatory funnel. At the time, I thought the term wastewater meant anything that came from a sewer pipe and that it mainly consisted of human waste. When I looked deeper into the possible sample categories for these methods, I was very surprised by the different sample types required to be tested as wastewater. With that, it prompted me to ask myself well where does it come from?
What to know when transitioning from EPA method 525.2 to 525.3
May 20, 2021 at 9:00 AM / by Michael Ebitson posted in SPE solid phase extraction, Drinking water, epa method 525.2, epa method 525.3
When learning that you may be transitioning to a newer revision of an EPA method some thoughts may come to mind such as: it took so long to perfect this sample preparation method, or I hope they have some improvements and or greater flexibility allowances in this revision. Well, that is exactly what we will touch upon in this blog post - sample preparation improvements.
Why Concentrate Down to 1 mL End Point? Can you go down to 0.5 mL?
April 29, 2021 at 3:00 PM / by Michael Ebitson posted in SPE solid phase extraction, Sample preparation, tech tips, EPA Method, Drying, application, evaporation systems, lower volume samples
When working with regulated environmental methods have you ever asked yourself why are all these extracts concentrated down to one milliliter (mL) final volume? This is true for most soil and aqueous methods. Of course, a few methods will require a more diluted final volume but not many.
What is the difference between an Internal Standard and Surrogate?
April 1, 2021 at 1:00 PM / by Michael Ebitson posted in epa method 525.2, water extractions, Internal Standard, Surrogate
Have you ever worked with new methods and said to yourself “yes I know what these internal standards and surrogates are measuring and when to add them to the samples”? Sounds familiar right? Well, I remember when I first started working in the laboratory and needed to fully understand and follow all method protocols and standard operating procedures (SOPs). One of the questions I asked was, what is the difference between method 525.2 and its internal standard and surrogates versus every other method we extract and analyze?
Myth Busters: Smaller Sample Volumes - EPA Method 1664B
December 16, 2020 at 9:22 AM / by Michael Ebitson posted in oil and grease, wastewater, epa method 1664b
Have you ever had days of extracting oil and grease samples and thought to yourself “there must be an easier way to work with wastewater samples”? Whether you run oil and grease samples by liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) or by solid-phase extraction (SPE) it can be challenging at times to efficiently extract 1-liter samples due to the sample matrix.
Reusable vs single-use disk holders – Which is best-suited for your application?
December 14, 2020 at 3:09 PM / by Michael Ebitson posted in SPE solid phase extraction, reusable disk holders, single-use disk holder
Have you ever thought to yourself am I using the best solid phase extraction disk offering for my application? Or can our prep lab turn samples around more efficiently if we choose a different SPE disk platform such as a single-use disk holder instead of cleaning our reusable holders? Those are just a few questions I receive when working with sample prep solutions with customers when SPE disks are brought up in the conversion.
Are Your Proficiency Testing Results Failing for Method 1664?
December 14, 2020 at 3:01 PM / by Michael Ebitson posted in SPE solid phase extraction, LLE liquid-liquid extraction, tech tips, oil and grease, epa method 1664b, proficiency testing
It is that time of year again when laboratories are fulfilling accreditation requirements for the methods that they offer. One of the requirements that must be met for each method is called proficiency testing (PT).
Why streamline inline drying for EPA Method 1664b?
December 4, 2020 at 1:54 PM / by Michael Ebitson posted in sodium sulfate, epa method 1664b, drying extracts, Biotage Horizon 3100, ISOLUTE