Volume 1, Number 7 July 2004 

Newsletter of U.S. EPA’s Safe Buildings Monitoring 

and Detection Technology Verification Program 

What is ETV? 

The U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) established the 

Environmental Technology 

Verification (ETV) Program in 1995 

to verify the performance of 

innovative technical solutions to

problems that threaten human health 

or the environment. 

ETV’s mission is to accelerate the 

use of new environmental 

technologies in the domestic and 

international marketplace. 

ETV provides third-party, qualityassured performance data so buyers 

and users of environmental 

technologies can make informed

purchase and application decisions.

ETV works through public/private 

testing partnerships (called Centers)

to evaluate the performance of

environmental technologies. 

The program 

The Safe Buildings Monitoring 

and Detection Technology Verification Program is part of the U.S. 

EPA’s National Homeland 

Security Research Center 

(NHSRC). The program operates 

under the auspices of ETV to 

verify technologies that monitor 

and detect chemical and 

biological contaminants in 

buildings and public places. 

The Safe Buildings Monitoring 

and Detection Technology 

Verification Program develops 

test plans and protocols, conducts 

verification tests, and reports the 

technologies’ performance. 

For further information, contact 

Helen Latham at Battelle, 505 

King Ave., Columbus, OH 

43201-2693; phone 614-424-

4062; fax 614-424-5601; or e-mail 

lathamh@battelle.org.

Discussing the installation of two ChemPro 100 instruments to be tested (bottom, 

right) are Rolf Meinholtz (center), a representative of Environics USA, Inc., and

 two Battelle laboratory staff members, Peter Bujnak (left) and Dale Folsom (right). 

A close-up of the test chamber is on page 2.

Two IMS Technologies Are 

Next for Verification Testing 

Two portable ion mobility (IMS) 

spectrometers have been submitted by Environics USA, Inc., 

for testing by Battelle under the 

U.S. EPA’s ETV Safe Buildings 

Monitoring and Detection

Technology Verification Program. 

IMS instruments are portable, 

lightweight devices designed to 

rapidly detect toxic industrial 

chemicals (TICs) and chemical 

warfare (CW) agents. 

IMS devices operate by drawing in 

air with an internal pump, ionizing 

the contaminants in the air, then 

separating the ions by their speed 

of drift in an electric field and 

detecting them. 

The two IMS instruments are the 

ChemPro 100, which is being 

tested with TICs, and the M-90 

Chemical Warfare Agent Detector, 

which is being tested with

hydrogen cyanide gas and two CW 

agents (sarin and sulfur mustard). 

TICs being used include hydrogen 

cyanide, chlorine, and phosgene. 

The verification tests began in late 

July and are expected to take two 

months. The objective of the tests 

is to assess the performance of 

these commercially available, 

portable IMS technologies to 

detect toxic chemicals or chemical 

agents in indoor air. 

The instruments will be challenged 

with TICs and CW agents under 

conditions and practices that mimic 

the real-world use of these 

instruments. 

Interference effects will also be 

evaluated, using latex paint fumes, 

(See IMS Technologies on Page 2)
IMS Technologies (from Page 1)

floor cleaner vapors, engine 

exhaust hydrocarbons, etc. 

The tests will focus on each 

instrument’s use by first responders to identify contaminants 

and guide emergency response 

activities after a building is 

contaminated. 

For example, the first responders 

will need instruments that can give 

a rapid indication of a building’s 

chemical concentration, helping 

them assess the potential hazard. 

The ChemPro 100 and M-90 will 

be tested for response and 

recovery time, response threshold, 

accuracy, repeatability, temperature and humidity effects, 

interference effects, and the 

battery life of the instruments. 

Also being evaluated are 

operational factors such as cold/ 

hot start behavior, cost, ease of 

use, and data output capability.

This expanded view shows the test chamber containing the two ChemPro

instruments submitted by Environics USA, Inc., for verification testing.

Take ‘Refresher Course’ in Safe 

Buildings Detection Technologies

September 

14-16 ORNL Conference on 

Detector/Sensor Research and 

Technology for Homeland and National 

Security, Gatlinburg, TN. 

27-29 Joint DOJ-DHS Conference: 

Technologies for Public Safety in Critical 

Incident Response. 

October 

5-6 Bay Area 2nd Annual Pacific 

Security Expo, Oakland, CA. 

13-14 Securing New Ground, Annual 

Security Conference 2004, New York, 

NY. 

November 

15-18 2004 Scientific Conference on 

Chemical and Geological Defense 

Research, Hunt Valley, MD. 

This issue of The Detector

newsletter completes the first year 

of providing information about 

the progress in testing 

technologies under the Safe 

Buildings Monitoring and 

Detection Technology Verification 

Program, which is part of the U.S. 

EPA’s National Homeland 

Security Research Center 

(NHSRC). Here is information 

about the program’s purposes and 

progress: 

3⁄4 Objective: to generate 

credible third-party performance 

data so buyers and users of 

detection technologies can make 

informed purchase, application, 

and permitting decisions. 

3⁄4 Priority technologies:

current focus on technologies for 

first responders. 

3⁄4 Tests conducted: with toxic 

industrial chemicals (e.g., cyanogen 

chloride, chlorine, hydrogen 

cyanide, phosgene) and chemical 

warfare agents (e.g., sarin, sulfur 

mustard) and realistic conditions 

and interferences. 

3⁄4 First test completed: a 

portable IMS called the Rapid 

Alarm & Identification DeviceMobile (RAID-M), manufactured 

by Bruker Daltonics. 

3⁄4 More tests underway:

HAZMATCAD Plus instrument 

from Microsensor Systems, Inc., 

was the second technology tested; 

two additional technologies (see 

lead article) began testing this 

month. 

3⁄4 Additional information: is 

available on the ETV Web site 

(www.epa.gov.etv). 

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