Laboratory Services
Areas of Analytical Expertise
Polychlorinated Biphenyl (Aroclors, Homologs, & Congeners)
PCB Replacement Compounds
Chlorinated Dioxins & Furans
1,4-Dioxane
Ammonia by IC
Alkylated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons & Biomarkers
Petroleum Hydrocarbons
Pestidices & Herbicides
Speciation of Trace Metals (As, Hg, Cr)
Standard Test Methods
Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA)
Clean Water Act (CWA)
National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
Clean Air Act (CAA)
Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, & Liability Act (CERCLA)
Superfund Amendments & Reauthorization Act (SARA)
State Regulatory Programs
Laboratory Certification
ATS is commited to providing its clients with the highest quality data and analytical services. This commitment is reflected in our performance evaluations, accreditation, and certification with various programs.
ATS actively maintains certifications in the States of Michigan and Wisconsin. For other State program information, please contact us.
Recent Publications
ATS is a leading analytical testing laboratory supporting a wide range of environmental and industrial applications in the U.S. and abroad.
When the highest quality analytical services are needed, engineering consulting firms, and Fortune 1000 Companies call ATS. We are the ‘go to firm’ that stands apart because of our specialized methodologies and unique ability to apply an in-depth knowledge of chemistry and the environment to deconvolute problems with chemicals which others find difficult or impossible to resolve. We support ecological and human-health risk assessments, offering nationally recognized expertise in hydrocarbon forensics, PCB congeners, sediments, as well as industrial process and treatment fluids and analysis.
Standard Test Methods and Analyses
ATS maintains 5,000 sq. ft. of modern, highly-automated in-house laboratory capability to characterize gaseous, liquid, and solid samples for hydrocarbons, solvents, pesticides, PCBs, bio-persistent industrial and pharmaceutical compounds, toxic and non-toxic metals, explosives, and other man-made and naturally occurring chemicals. The ATS laboratory has primary certifications in the States of Michigan and Wisconsin (MI No. 9604; WI No. 998321720), and secondary certifications in other states and agencies through reciprocity agreements. Statistical analysis of laboratory data and a formal Quality Assurance program assure analytical accuracy and precision, and provide an essential foundation for further evaluation of the information generated. Analytical methodology employed in ATS laboratories follows standards published by the USEPA, ASTM, NIOSH, and APHA.
Site-Specific Method Development and Optimization
Where standard methodology is not available, or where an alternate analytical approach is required, ATS has a rare ability to develop, validate and certify methods to regulatory standards that will provide an acceptable compromise between sensitivity, selectivity, accuracy and precision. The following is a partial list of success stories where ATS developed project specific analytical methodologies to resolve problems for our clients.
Success Stories - Site-Specific Optimized Analytical Methods
Kalamazoo River - Kalamazoo, Michigan
ATS developed a site-specific method for analysis of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH), sulfur heterocyclic compounds including alkyl homologues, and Petroleum Chemical Biomarkers using either full scan or selected ion monitoring GC/MS or GC/MS/MS. (USEPA 8270D Modified)
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Extended PNA list: PNA62, including parent and alkyl homologues; plus
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Petroleum Biomarkers: terpenes, hopanes, and cholestanes
Lower Fox River - Green Bay, Wisconsin
ATS developed a site-specific analytical method for methyl isopropyl biphenyl, SantoSol, SureSol, and Alkylate 215. A series of formulation chemicals used as replacement chemicals for PCB in the production of carbonless copy paper. The analysis of these replacement chemicals was used in the successful apportionment effort to fingerprint and deconvolute PCB contaminated sediments in the Lower Fox River.
Tittabawassee River Remedial Investigation
Chemists at ATS and Dow Chemical Company jointly developed at site-specific, rapid-response method for chlorinated dioxins and furans (named “USEPA 1613-TRP”) that was used successfully to analyze approximately 20,000 soil and sediment samples for regulated dioxins and furans on a 72 hour turn-around basis, as part of a three-year effort to characterize 24 miles of the Tittabawassee River and 8,000 acres of its active floodplain.
State of Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
The ATS-developed method is uniquely cited by the State of Michigan in its PA 307/451 Operational Memoranda as the required protocol for the common solvent 1,4-dioxane in environmental media. This capability is often useful to industry in solving compliance problems.
Ammonia by Ion-Chromatography
For an industrial landfill client, ATS developed an alternate procedure for the determination of ammonia in water and wastewater to overcome a positive bias in the standard test methods. This alternate procedure, based on ion chromatography, was one of the first to be granted “Tier I Validation” by USEPA under the performance-based streamlining initiative. Once approved by USEPA the “Ammonia by IC Method ATS350A” was subsequently written into the Clean Water Act discharge permit by MDEQ, and the compliance problem for the discharger was eliminated.