Dakota has developed the Tar-specific Green Optical Screening Tool or TarGOST®. TarGOST® is a specialized version of UVOST® that was developed exclusively for detection of coal tars, creosotes, heavy crudes, and tank bottoms. The TarGOST® system is designed specifically to overcome the low signal levels or often-severe non-monotonic response observed on coal tars and creosotes with current UV-based fluorescence systems.  A comprehensive spectroscopic study of coal tar behavior identified a method that results in a monotonic response for coal tars on a variety of soils. Lab tests of TarGOST® indicated the system is ideally suited for delineating the NAPL contaminated zones or “source term” at former manufactured gas plants (MGPs) and wood treating facilities.

TarGOST® does have quite as low detection limits typically observed with the UV-based UVOST® on POLs, but many site managers desire a technique that focuses solely on mapping significant NAPL contamination (LOD = ~100-500 ppm NAPL on soil). TarGOST has been confirmed to be useful for logging:

• Coal tar (coking, former manufactured gas plants, etc.)
• Creosote
• Crude oil
• Bunker
• Heavy distillate
• Dripolene (olefin plant aromatic byproduct)
• DEHP/BEHP (some - not all)
• Biodiesel
  

Dakota is currently offering TarGOST® site characterization service of former manufactured gas plants (MGPs) and wood-treating facilities. Since the first full-scale site characterization project in June of 2003, the system has been successfully applied and validated in a wide variety of site conditions and deployment platforms, including Geoprobe and CPT. Barge deployment is now becoming fairly routine and continues to be a growing deployment platform for TarGOST®.

Successful remediation/treatment systems require detailed knowledge of the NAPL distribution. TarGOST® provides this knowledge at unprecedented speed, detail, and efficiency.

Free Sample Check

 If you are interested in TarGOST, but are unsure if it will work for your site, feel free to contact us. We will usually request a sample of your site's NAPL(s) or, less optimally, NAPL-contaminated soil. A typical sample is a partially full 40 ml VOA, well labeled. We will analyze the sample with our TarGOST system and quickly be able to tell you if TarGOST is a viable investigative tool for the site.

Be sure to include a detailed description of the product (any unusual hazards, etc.) and your full contact info. If your material is hazardous (PCBs, etc.) or we receive an excessive volume, you will be responsible for return shipment or for disposal by a local waste management company.

Dakota's Delivery Platform

Dakota incorporates its innovative tools with a Geoprobe® truck. Geoprobe® the industry standard in percussion driven soil probes, can be used to take conventional soil and water samples, place small diameter monitoring wells and implanted sensors, and log soil conductivity and soil gas. The Geoprobe® is a hydraulically powered percussion probing machine designed specifically for use in the environmental industry. Geoprobe® has many advantages over conventional drilling including, a smaller size, working depths of up to 100 feet in favorable conditions, virtual elimination of drilling waste, speed, and a less invasive hole.

Dakota's Geoprobe® is mounted on a Ford F-550 4x4 diesel truck. Features of the vehicle include a heated/air conditioned generator powered lab, ample storage space for supplies and equipment, water storage for decontamination, and storage space in the cargo compartment for well supplies and other accessories.

We also commonly use third party platforms and work from barges. 

More Information

TarGOST® Brochure (PDF Document)

LIF Introduction page provides a preliminary discussion of LIF technology

Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI): Development of a Characterization and Assessment Framework for Coal Tar at MGP Sites (Product ID: 1010137) (external link)

EPA CLU-IN: Dense Nonaqueous Phase Liquids (DNAPLs), Detection and Site Characterization (external link)

Michigan Association of Environmental Professionals (www.MAEP.org ) Spring 2009 Newsletter (PDF Document) (external link)