Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy

In my opinion, they've got one of the most difficult jobs here.

One of the primary instruments they use is called a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, an FTIR.

And so that can measure the different gas phases that are coming out within the volcanic eruption.

The problem is it's an infrared technique.

We kind of dye plastic in a special dye, and it shines under a very special wavelength, and we can quantify, okay, it's 200 microplastic per liter of water, or it's 50.

And if you want to have a very detailed understanding, you have to use, like, those advanced equipment such as FTIR, GCMS, and those are not really available in most labs.

So-

Mm

... at using the equipment we already have? Because hazmat has become incredibly technology-driven.

I mean, you got four gas meters, PIDs, Raman, FTIR, radiation, colorimetrics, wireless-

Archery and a pear tree.

[laughs]

Um, [laughs] when we, when we start talking about, um, our advanced detection, that's, that's where we start to see more of this challenge.

Yeah, absolutely.

And let's, let's say your team buys RAMAN or FTIR.

Now we've moved the wave be- well beyond the four numbers on the screen.

Seeing syringe disposal in bathrooms is really great.

But it's just not... far enough like I'll tell people about drug checking with FTIR machines and they're like oh I don't know about that one and I'm like well a test strip and go cover everything especially with how many analogs we have coming out

right now

and I think even in the queer community when we get into chem sex it's like so much is happening there when it comes to harm reduction that like is holding it back that just seems to be getting a little worse in some ways right now can you talk more about that Yeah, I think right now we're just seeing this shift in our culture overall here in the U.S. towards conservativism, right? We're seeing that pop up.

They're

keeping Narcan around just in case.

And so that's where FTIRs can really come in handy is like, we can actually test the drugs and start figuring out where certain contaminants are at.

There's a really great place out of North Carolina where you can actually send all of your results and they compile it for the entire country and create like alert systems as well for, hey,

And then I had to actually seek a lab assistance because it had to be a surface contaminant.

But, you know, it's because the company was having, you know, FTIR and so on.

We just don't have those equipment.

So I went to a NASA certified lab at University of Toronto and and you know worked with them and we were able to get to the elemental level of what that contaminant was and you know narrowed it down to it was actually a contaminant from the PCB shop it was a process from the PCB shop so I But that too, having the know-how, hey, quickly going through all the processes, crossing out all the variables at the plant level, and then knowing that, hey, in order to solve this, we actually have to go out to another lab to get to that level.