The project consists of 2,296 S.F. of space in a former wood shop that was converted to a full-service civil engineering/geotech laboratory. This lab features several fume hoods, snorkel exhaust devices for exhausting fumes at the lab benches, a remote reverse osmosis de-ionization (RODI) system which provides tapped water, and a new acid neutralization system for treating lab waste. In addition, a constant temperature room, a special room for tests using radioactive isotopes, and a computer research lab were provided. On the floor immediately below, open space was enclosed to create a new private office within the central engineering computer lab.

The challenge of this project was providing waste and exhaust piping to remote floors, by using the fifth floor attic for separately ducted fume hood exhaust, and the sub-basement garage for the acid neutralization tank (ANT) and RODI water tank. An old acid neutralization chip tank will be taken off-line when the other labs in the building are hooked up to the new ANT.

This civil and environmental engineering lab works with hazardous waste such as chlorinated solvents, (PCE’s and TCE’s), to find ways of remediating environmental contamination of ground water. Dry cleaning establishments used PCE’s for years until they were banned. Two methods are being investigated in the Abriola Lab, sorsone remediation and bioremediation. Sorsone remediation employs surfactants, such as those found in detergents, to degrade chlorinated solvents. Remediation of hydrocarbons is also experimented on.

Bioremediation uses micro-organisms to degrade compounds, in a process called halorespiration. Reductive chlorination occurs as organisms eat these compounds and convert them to harmless waste products.

The environmental chamber is used to grow micro-organisms under steady environmental conditions, and to stabilize volatile experiments. The “hot lab” has a scintillation counter which detects radioactivity or radio labels in materials at very weak levels. Hazardous waste has radio labels as do many materials. Remedial compounds can be investigated this way. Snorkle exhausts are used for venting volatile liquids and for experiments being conducted on the lab benches. They provide the flexibility to experiment away from the large vent hoods which are located at the perimeter of the lab.