Environmental contaminants, solutions and methodologies

Proactive environmental monitoring and assessment is more important than ever to protect natural resources and ensure long-term sustainability amidst growing populations and industries. Organic contaminants such as oil, grease, dioxins, and PCBs infiltrate aqueous and solid environmental matrices, potentially compromising ecosystem health and human well-being.

For example, the surface layer formed by oil and grease contaminants in aquatic environments inhibits gas exchange, leading to oxygen depletion and disrupting biological activity. In soil, contaminants can reduce fertility and lead to bioaccumulation in crops, impacting global food security.

Fortunately, innovative technologies are making it easier for labs to keep up with increased testing demands and complexity.

Organic elemental analysis and solvent extraction technologies help laboratories isolate and quantify organic contaminants faster and more precisely. These technologies can increase lab safety while providing the comprehensive data needed to support remediation efforts, meet the growing throughput demands of environmental testing, and comply with stringent regulatory requirements.

Total Nitrogen, Total Carbon, Total Organic Carbon, Hydrogen, and Sulfur with Elemental Analyzers

Elemental analyzers are versatile instruments used for a wide range of environmental analyses, including Total Nitrogen, Total Carbon, Total Organic Carbon, Hydrogen, and Sulfur analysis. They employ high-temperature combustion in the presence of oxygen to determine a sample’s elemental composition and key indicators of soil quality, environmental contamination, and ecosystem health.

Some of the most pressing environmental challenges include:

1. Pollution Monitoring and Environmental Remediation: elemental analysis reveals the extent of pollution at contaminated sites, guiding effective cleanup efforts, tracking remediation success, and adjusting strategies as needed;
2. Ecological Studies: this analysis helps examine the movement of essential elements like carbon and nitrogen, ensuring ecosystem health and evaluating the overall health of ecosystems;
3. Climate Change Research: elemental analysis enables the quantification of carbon storage in soils and vegetation, which is vital for climate change mitigation;
4. Regulatory Compliance: this method assists in monitoring adherence to environmental regulations.

The variability of environmental samples, the necessity of detecting low concentrations, and the complexity of sample preparation and instrument calibration can make these analyses quite challenging. To meet these needs, laboratories require specialized solutions and technologies.

Determining Total Organic Carbon (TOC) can be one of the most challenging tasks, primarily due to the necessary preliminary acidification to remove any inorganic traces, and the technology involved.

Many solutions on the market do not utilize advanced technologies that can protect them from acidic vapors generated by the combustion of an acidified sample. This leads to increased consumable usage and frequent instrument maintenance.

➔ Why should you rely on VELP Elemental Analyzers?  

The VELP CN 802 employs a unique dual-trap system to effectively capture and eliminate these acid vapors. A physical water trap DriStep^TM removes up to 99% of the vapors, while a second chemical trap further ensures the complete removal of any residues. This innovative approach significantly reduces consumable consumption and lowers maintenance requirements, making the CN 802 robust solution suitable for aggressive samples and routine Total Organic Carbon – TOC analysis.
The CN 802, is also equipped with a highly sensitive IR detector (HighSensIR^TM) and a TCD detector, capable of detecting respectively the lowest concentrations of carbon and nitrogen. Additionally, the solution accommodates large sample weights—up to 1 g- ideal for heterogeneous and low-concentration samples, ensuring high repeatability of results. Its robust design makes it suitable for aggressive samples.

On the contrary, the EMA 502 is a very sensitive micro elemental analyzer designed for simultaneous carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulphur by combustion analysis, and oxygen determination by pyrolysis.

The high degree of automation, low operating cost, easy design, and flexibility in determining the elements make it suitable for a large variety of applications, including a few Total Organic Carbon – TOC determinations per day.

Both the CN 802 and EMA 502 elemental analyzers feature an electronic autosampler capable of processing up to 117 samples in a single run as well as a balance connection for direct weighing data transfer, significantly increasing sample throughput and reducing manual intervention, leading to higher efficiency and productivity.