Collaborative study to improve the quality control of rare earth element determinations in environmental matrices

In order to control the quality of rare earth determinations in environmental matrices, the Standards, Measurements and Testing Programme (formerly Community Bureau of Reference, BCR) of the European Commission has started a project, the final aim of which is to certify four types of matrices (tuna muscle, mussel tissue, aquatic plant and estuarine sediment) for their contents of a range of rare earth elements (Sc, Y and the lanthanides: La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu). The elements U and Th were added to the study. The first part of this project consisted of an interlaboratory study which aimed to test the feasibility of preparation of environmental reference materials and to detect and remove most of the pitfalls observed in rare earth determinations. This paper presents the preparation of the four matrices for the intercomparison study and for the candidate reference material. The main results are presented of the interlaboratory study that was carried out prior to the certification campaign. This collaborative trial is the first attempt ever carried out at this scale to evaluate the state-of-the-art of rare earth determinations in the environment. Its impact on the improvement of chemical measurements will have positive effects on the comparability of data necessary for environmental monitoring.     

Evaluation of two adsorbents for diffusive sampling and thermal desorption-gas chromatographic analysis of monoterpenes in air

Tube type samplers with two different adsorbents, Chromosorb 106 and Tenax TA, were evaluated by laboratory experiments and field tests for simultaneous diffusive sampling of alpha-pinene, beta-pinene and delta 3-carene and subsequent thermal desorption-gas chromatographic analysis. No statistically significant effects of exposure time, concentrations of monoterpenes or relative humidity were found for samplers with Chromosorb 106 when running a factorial design, with the exception of the adsorption of delta 3-carene, for which some weak effects were noted. Samplers with Tenax TA were affected by the sampling time as well as the concentration for all terpenes, with a strong interaction effect between these two factors. The terpenes showed good storage stability on both adsorbents. No effect of back-diffusion was noted when using Chromosorb 106, while Tenax TA showed some back-diffusion effects. The uptake rates, in ml min-1, for the terpenes on Chromosorb 106 were 0.36 for alpha-pinene, 0.36 for beta-pinene and 0.40 for delta 3-carene. The corresponding average values on Tenax TA were 0.30 for alpha-pinene, 0.32 for beta-pinene and 0.38 for delta 3-carene. The field validation proved that diffusive sampling on Chromosorb 106 agreed well with pumped sampling on charcoal for stationary samples, while the personal samples indicated a discrepancy of 25% between Chromosorb 106 and charcoal samples. Tenax TA generally gave lower results than Chromosorb 106 in all field samples. Samplers packed with Chromosorb 106 could be used to monitor terpene levels in workplaces such as sawmills. The major advantages with this method are the sampling procedure, which is simple to perform compared to other techniques, the easily automated analysis procedure and the possibility to reuse the samplers.     

Determination of Ni(CO)4, Fe(CO)5, Mo(CO)6, and W(CO)6 in sewage gas by using cryotrapping gas chromatography inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Evidence for the occurrence of Ni(CO)4 in addition to Mo(CO)6 and W(CO)6 in fermentation gases from a municipal sewage treatment plant is presented for the first time. The gases were sampled at the top of the sewage sludge digester using Tedlar bags, and were analysed using cryotrapping followed by gas chromatography coupled with inductively coupled mass spectrometry (GC-ICP-MS). The use of an ICP-MS as an element-specific detector gives sufficiently low detection limits for metals and was coupled to a packed column gas chromatograph. This method provides information about the speciation of volatile transition metals in contrast to previously used methods for the determination of Ni(CO)4 in gas samples. The element-specific detection of three different isotopes (m/z 58, 60, 62) and the correspondence of the samples' retention times with those of the standard provided convincing evidence that Ni(CO)4 is present in the fermentation gas. The concentrations found were in the sub-ppb level, which is at least one order of magnitude lower than the threshold level of 1 ppb (v/v). In addition, Mo(CO)6 and W(CO)6 were also measured in the sub-ppb range in contrast to the absence of Fe(CO)5. The stabilities of Ni(CO)4, Fe(CO)5, and Mo(CO)6 were tested in a carbon monoxide atmosphere. In the presence of distilled water, the following order of stability was found after 11 weeks: Fe(CO)5 < Ni(CO)4 < Mo(CO)6. In the presence of an aqueous solution containing nickel, molybdenum, tungsten and iron, however, only Fe(CO)5 was significantly decomposed (< 0.3% recovery); Ni(CO)4 and Mo(CO)6 were stable after 11 weeks. No W(CO)6 was formed. The low stability of Fe(CO)5 in the presence of water could be the reason why no volatile iron compound was found in sewage gas. This study showed that GC-ICP-MS can be employed to identify species-specific traces of metal carbonyls in process gases such as sewage gas.     

Microwave-Assisted Solvent Extraction of Air Particulates for the Determination of PAHs

A method for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in air particulates using microwave-assisted solvent extraction (MASE) coupled to a microwave extraction system (MES) is proposed. During the period of August to October, 1994, Singapore was enveloped by haze caused by forest fires in Sumatra, Indonesia. Air sampling were carried out during September and October; the determination of ambient air PAH levels in Singapore was undertaken. PAH analysis by GC-MS provided excellent sensitivity, linearity of quantitation, peak identification. This technique was evaluated using certified reference materials (CRMs) HS-4 and HS-6. Good recoveries of PAHs (>73.3%) were obtained for both CRMs. The MASE technique using MES is suitable for the determination of PAH levels in ambient air with no clean-up step required.     

Chemical and Bacteriological Monitoring of Drinking Water from an Urbanised Water Catchment Drainage Basin

The Linggi river drainage basin in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia supplies water to the whole of Port Dickson district and meets 50% of the Seremban district needs. The Linggi River, the main tributary, passes through the highly urbanised and densely populated Seremban district while the water treatment plant is located 16 km downstream. In 1979 the USEPA declared the river unsuitable as a source of raw water whereas the WHO classified it as being heavily polluted requiring more extensive and effective treatment. In order to meet the WHO drinking water standards, an ozonation system was installed in the conventional water treatment plant. The objective of ozonation is for the control and removal of organic micropollutants and other deleterious matters. This study investigated the concentrations and distribution of organic micropollutants, heavy metals, and bacteriological counts in water samples collected from within the catchment and the treated water. The effectiveness of the ozonation system was also studied. The total level of phenolic water pollutants in the catchment was generally found to be very much higher than the maximum recommended level of 2.0 µgl-1. The extensive treatment process carried out at the plant was very effective in reducing the levels of total phenols in the treated water to less than 1.0 µgl-1. However the process was not efficient enough to reduce the levels of some heavy metals as required by the standards, for examples Cd and Pb were still three times higher than the standards of 5µgl-1 and 0.05 mgl-1 respectively. For bacteriological study, coliform group of bacteria, Salmonella, faecal streptococci and injured coliform were monitored in the raw and treated water. The raw water contained coliforms about 1000 times higher than the required standard for raw ater, but after the secondary treatment by ozonation coliform bacteria were absent, however a small number of Salmonella was still present occasionally. The study also showed that restructuring of the district and relocating of some commercial activities along the river banks to other areas carried out over the last five years has improved the general quality of the river water.     

Soil Lead and Other Metal Levels in Industrial, Residential and Nature Reserve Areas in Singapore

The use of pressure feedback microwave digestion technique has permitted rapid and efficient digestion of soil and sediment samples. The evaluation of different acid mixtures to digest soil samples were studied by mixed-level orthogonal array design. The selected acid mixture of HCl-HNO3-HF was employed in the survey of Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr and Mn in soil samples. Surface soil samples were collected from industrial, residential and nature reserve areas in Singapore. The five metal concentrations were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The lead and other metal contents in NBS SRM 1645, NIES CRM No. 2 and NRCC BCSS-1 sediment standard references were determined concurrently with the survey samples. Five measured metal loading on the surface soils was in the order: industrial area > residential area > nature reserve area. The trace metal concentrations in surface soil from areas of heavy traffic are higher than those from residential areas. The main sources of trace metal pollution are vehicular exhaust and industrial activities.     

A Global Overview of Atmospheric Acid Deposition Fluxes

This paper presents a summary of globalacid deposition flux data taken from a globalassessment report on acid deposition prepared forUNEP/WMO (Whelpdale and Kaiser, 1996). There is a largevariation in the spacial coverage and reliability ofmonitoring around the world. Many more stationsmeasure wet deposition than collect appropriate datafor estimating dry deposition. The widespread regionswith highest precipitation concentrations anddeposition fluxes of sulphate and nitrate coincideclosely with the regions of highest density ofSO₂ and NO_x precursor emissions occurringprimarily in the mid-latitude, northern hemispherebelt where a large fraction of the worlds fossilfuels is consumed. Organic acids in precipitation makea minor contribution to acidity (<20%) inindustrial regions, but in the rest of the world theyare of same order, or even exceed, inorganic acids.Less is known about dry deposition, but it appears topredominate near strong emission sources with wetdeposition predominating farther downwind. The molarratio of the N/S contribution to acidic deposition isclose to 1.0 over large areas of Europe and NorthAmerica, but is highly variable elsewhere, beinghighest in equatorial regions due to biomass burningand lowest near smelters and other large sources of SO₂.     

Study of Meteorological Aspects and Urban Concentration of SO2 in Atmospheric Environment of La Plata, Argentina

This article presents and discusses SO₂ (ppbv) concentration measurements combined with meteorological data (mainly wind speed and direction) for a five-year campaign (1996 to 2000), in a site near an oil refinery plant close to the city of La Plata and surroundings (aprox. 740.000 inh.), considered one of the six most affected cities by air pollution in the country. Since there is no monitoring network in the area, the obtained results should be considered as medium term accumulated data that enables to determine trends by analyzing together gas concentrations and meteorological parameters. Preliminary characterization of the behaviour of the predominant winds of the region in relation with potential atmospheric gas pollutants from seasonal wind roses is possible to carry out from the data. These results are complemented with monthly averaged SO₂ measurements. In particular, for year 2000, pollutant roses were determined which enable predictions about contamination emission sources. As a general result we can state that there is a clear increase in annual SO₂ concentration and that the selected site should be considered as a key site for future survey monitoring network deployment. Annual SO₂ average concentration and prevailing seasonal winds determined in this work, together with the potential health impact of SO₂ reveals the need for a comprehensive and systematic study involving particulate matter an other basic pollutant gases.