Atomic spectrometry update. Environmental analysis

Abstract

This is the twenty-third annual review published in JAAS of the application of atomic spectrometry to the chemical analysis of environmental samples. This update refers to papers published approximately between September 2006 and August 2007. In the analysis of air, there has been an increased awareness of the need to collect and characterise ultrafines, i.e. particles below 100 nm in size, and such work is being facilitated by the development of real-time aerosol mass spectrometric techniques. In the analysis of plant and water matrices, elemental speciation protocols for elements such as As, Cr Hg, Sb, Se and Sn continue to receive considerable attention with particular interest in the speciation of Se compounds in plant matrices. Laser ablation continues continues to go from strength to strength in being adopted as a solid sampling tool in geochemical analysis. Such work is being underpinned by increased knowledge of the ablation process and resultant transport and plasma effects coupled with developments in fs UV laser technology. This technique, in conjunction with multi-collector ICP-MS technology, is increasingly being used for the in situ determination of isotope ratios in geological samples. Feedback on this review is most welcome and the lead author can be contacted using the email address provided.

Mercury in soil and perennial plants in a mining-affected urban area from Northwestern Romania

“…Most of the analytical methods for Hg determination in solid samples are based on wet digestion followed by spectrometric quantification. [21,22] An environmental friendly alternative is the use of a reagent-free non-chemical method based on the thermal decomposition (pyrolysis) of solid samples. [23][24][25][26] The aims of this study were: (1) to evaluate the Hg contamination of soil and perennial plants in the urban area of Baia Mare, (2) to study the relationships between Hg in soil and plants, and between the contents of Hg, As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn and the properties of soils (pH, Total Organic Carbon (TOC)) using multivariate statistical techniques.…”

Fate and Biotransformation of Metal and Metalloid Species in Biological Wastewater Treatment Processes

“…The most comprehensive database of literature and research on elemental speciation could be found at www.speciation.net, the official Web site of the European Virtual Institute for Speciation Analysis (EVISA; 2008). These advances have been also collected and described in various review articles during the last decade (Ali et al, 2005;Butler et al, 2005Butler et al, , 2006Butler et al, , 2007Butler et al, , 2008Cave et al, 2001;Li et al, 2008;Moldovan et al, 2004;Wang, 2007;Wuilloud & Altamirano, 2006;Yip & Sham, 2007). It is not our intention to perform an extensive literature review on analytical methods for elemental speciation, in general.…”

Characterization of industrial explosives based on the determination of metal oxides in the identification particles by microwave digestion and atomic absorption spectrometry method

“…The XRF method has a great advantage in being a direct non-destructive multi-element analysis of solid-state samples, which results in a significant reduction of analysis time, since no special sample treatment is needed. The possibility of application of mobile XRF systems makes this technique attractive for many purposes [5][6][7]. But in this particular case, i.e.…”