Analysis of Mercury in Water Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analysis of quicksilver in Water - Research Paper Examplemost of the analysis orders apply today were developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s and are immensely dependent on laboratory equipment. However, in the wake of the expert evolution, several other high-tech methods have been developed as we will see with the Anthonys mercury Analyzer. Most of these sophisticated methods not only erect for the basic laboratory setting but also for field purposes. Purge and Trap - since the discovery of elemental Mercury in water, there is no precariousness that this method is one of the best for analyzing Mercury in the field. Basically, this method entails purging water samples with nitrogen and consequently extracting Mercury from the samples prior to analyzing the levels using Mercury analyzers. This method was widely used in the early 1990s to screen water samples from wells and construction sites across the United States (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency p. 2). However, rec eivable to its lack of sensitivity and prone to environmental factors, this method is limited especially when trying to retrieve precise measurements from the samples owing to the contamination of reagents in the field (Murphy & Dooley p.2) raw Vapour Atomic Absorption Spectrometry- in an attempt to refine the purge and trap method, cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry method, has become synonymic with various chemists around the world due to its precision. In this technique, Mercury is reduced to a free atomic state by chemically reacting to the sample with a strong reduction agent like sodium borohydride in a sealed reaction system. The free Mercury, which is now volatile, is thence forced from the reaction container by effervescing gases in the solution. Mercury atoms are then transmitted in the stream of gas to a connected absorption cell, which is positioned on the path of visible light from the atomic absorption spectrometer and the readings relayed to the analyzers. The sample is then digested in potassium permanganate-potassium persulfate and oxidized for two hours at 95 degrees. The resultant Mercury levels are then measured using automated Mercury analyzers (Hirata p. 4). Oxidation- this is rather a more advanced method of analyzing methyl Mercury and involves extraction of methyl Mercury by pre-treatment in dithizone-toulene solution. The resultant solution is injected into a Gas-liquid Chromatograph with electron capture detector (GLC-ECD) with chlorine gas. The results from the reaction are then used to determine the level of Mercury in the stress sample since Mercury is sparingly soluble in water. Owing to its high precision this is one of the best methods used in the test of methyl Mercury and moreover inorganic Mercury. This method is generally applied when analyzing Mercury in food samples such as fish and also Mercury analysis in human blood (Suzuki p. 97). However, due to the high costs associated with this method, chemists and env ironmental analysts rarely use it as sometimes there might be a need to conduct multiple analyses on the same sample or repeating the procedure more than twice to refine the final results. Most of the above methods require specialized equipment and the analysis is usually conducted in laboratories hence making the above methods inflexible. With the advancement in technology however, more reliable and advanced techniques are continually being developed. Anthonys Mercury Analyzer is a unique technique that builds