Analytical Services Unit (ASU), School of Environmental Studies

Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
What the facility does

Environmental analytical laboratory providing specialized and routine chemical testing

Areas of expertise

The Analytical Services Unit (ASU) is accredited by the Canadian Association for Laboratory Accreditation Inc. (CALA) to the standards of ISO/IEC 17025. We are an environmental analytical laboratory, and have been providing analytical services at Queen’s University for more than 25 years. The unit is available to assist industry, government and the university community with analytical chemistry problems. The ASU also has experience in assisting with environmental assessments and associated activities. The ASU has aided 50 professors in 20 different departments of the university and more than 200 industrial organizations with chemical analysis problems. The unit also accommodates the special needs of clients such as analytical method development and specific research projects, both large and small.

We have been conducting research in the Canadian Arctic for approximately 30 years and during the summer months operate an analytical chemical laboratory in the Nunavut Research Institute (NRI).

ASU activities are directly aligned with the Queen’s Strategic Research Plan (SRP). In particular, our core mandate is to support the academic mission, research excellence, innovation and interdisciplinary initiatives at Queen’s.

Research services

Testing samples for environmental contaminants including PCBs (congeners and totals), hydrocarbons, pesticides and metals, graduate student support (analytical sampling and testing), project work for industry

Sectors of application
  • Chemical industries
  • Energy
  • Environmental technologies and related services
  • Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
  • Mining, minerals and metals

Equipment

Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer
Six (6) Gas chromatographs with Flame Ionization, Electron Capture, Thermal Conductivity, Solid Phase Microextraction Autosampler (SPME) 
Autosampler and Mass Selective Detectors
Ion chromatograph system
Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometer with graphite furnace
X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer
Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometer
Gel Permeation Chromatography unit
Colorimetric AutoAnalyzer

Direct Mercury Analyzer

Ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) Spectrometer
  • Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC)
  • Advisian
  • Alltech
  • BluMetric
  • Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada
  • DuPont Canada
  • Fuel Cell Research Centre
  • Golder Associates Ltd.
  • Kingston Process Metallurgy Inc.
  • Lafarge
  • Novelis Inc.
  • Octane Orthobiologics Inc.
  • Parks Canada
  • Phoenix Occupational Health Centre
  • Queen’s University GreenCentre Canada
  • Royal Military College
  • Sensient Colors Canada
  • St Mary's University
  • University of Waterloo
  • WorleyParsons