AQWATEC operates two major on-campus facilities, a state-of-the-art 2,000 square foot water quality analysis laboratory and a high-bay facility for laboratory- and pilot-scale research. The center also jointly operates a fully automated surface water pilot plant at Golden’s Water Treatment Plant and supports the Rocky Mountain On-site & Small Flow Program.
Analytical capabilities of the water quality laboratory include:
- Ion chromatography (Dionex DC 80)
- Carbon (TOC) analyzers (Sievers 800, Sievers 900, Shimadzu TOC-L)
- UV/Vis spectrophotometry (Beckman)
- Gas chromatography w/mass spectroscopy (Agilent GC/MS) systems for analysis of pharmaceutical residues, personal care products, and endocrine disruptors
- Applied Biosystems 3200 Q TRAP® LC/MS/MS System
- High-performance liquid chromatography (Agilent HPLC) systems for analysis of pharmaceutical residues, personal care products, and endocrine disruptors
- Size-exclusion chromatography with DOC and UVA detection (SEC-DOC/UVA)
- Electrokinetic analysis for solid samples and surfaces (SurPASS, Anton-Paar)
- Contact angle instrument (rame-hart)
- Aqualog – compact spectrofluorometer (Horiba)
- Benchtop spectrophotometery (Hach DR-5000 and DR-6000)
- Additional analytical capabilities across campus are available to AQWATEC researchers including AAS-ICP, ICP-MS, environmental scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, streaming potential, and FT-infrared spectroscopy.
Analytical Laboratories
AQWATEC’s high-bay facility is equipped with various size membrane test systems including multiple flat-sheet (SEPA II) test units for pressure-driven, osmotic-driven, and thermal membrane processes; laboratory-scale 1- and 2-stage spiral-wound SCADA controlled nanofiltration/reverse osmosis membrane test skids; laboratory-scale electrodialysis skid; dead-end and diffusion cells; 20-gpm NF/RO membrane test skid, trailer-mounted, SCADA controlled; various soil-column set-ups simulating riverbank filtration/soil-aquifer treatment