Although the EPA banned consumer use of CCA treated wood beginning in January 2004, as structures made of the wood are damaged or replaced, the old material enteres the waste stream. It is often difficult to visually identify CCA-treated wood, particularly when the wood is soiled or weathered. According to Innov-X, using the Alpha Series hand-held analyzers provides a simple means of identifying CCA wood and gives analysis results for copper, chrome and arsenic in parts per million.
Dr. Helena Solo-Gabriele of the College of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, at the University of Miami, heads the program in conjunction with the University of Florida. She says, "Our study will be conducted at a wood recycling facility in Medley, Fla., using new technologies in day-to-day sorting operations. Results from the study will likely encourage the use of the new methods at other wood recycling facilities in Florida."
The Alpha Series, which uses an X-ray tube source, provides elemental analysis from phosphorus to uranium. The analyzers also use HP iPAQ pocket PC software analyzes up to 25-elements using fundamental parameters, spectral matching and/or empirically-generated calibrations. The pocket PC has a color touch-screen display, up to 1 Gb of memory, Bluetooth wireless communications, e-mail and Internet access, GPS plus many other capabilities.
With R&D and manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Innov-X has offices in the Netherlands, South Africa and Hong Kong. The company maintains sales and service alliances worldwide.
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