Environmental analysis

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Sample preparation for gas chromatography, 1972

The environmental analysis is part of the chemical analysis and deals with the qualitative and quantitative analysis of substances in the environment . The investigation areas extend to the environmental compartments air (including indoor air ), soil and water and can include individual substances as well as sum parameters .

history

The beginning of environmental analysis as a science cannot be dated. But water was probably the first environmental compartment to be chemically analyzed because it is the easiest to study.

As early as 1768, Andreas Sigismund Marggraf published his "chemical analysis of water" in which u. a. Rainwater, well water and water from the Spree for their content u. a. investigated on “delicate lime earth”, “gypsum earth” and “pure nitrium”. Almost 90 years later Robert Angus Smith published his studies of rainwater from Manchester , England in 1852 . In 1872, Smith published a 600-page book detailing the collection and analysis of rainwater.

Investigation methods

Modern environmental analysis uses the entire spectrum of available analytical devices. The following techniques, among others, are used to separate the substances:

The subsequent determination and quantification takes place e.g. B. by means of:

Depending on the parameters to be examined and the selected analytical technique, the sample may have to be prepared. H. the sample often cannot be examined directly. If the expected concentration in a water sample is too low, the sample must be concentrated (enrichment). This happens e.g. B. by extraction with an organic solvent . Solid samples, e.g. B. soil or sewage sludge are also often extracted with a solvent in order to better determine the substance to be examined afterwards in the solvent. Gaseous samples, mostly air samples, can sometimes be analyzed directly or only after they have been introduced into a liquid. A sample often has to be cleaned up before the actual analysis in order to remove disruptive components ( clean-up ).

Examination parameters

Which substance is to be determined in an environmental sample naturally depends on the reason for the analysis. Should z. If, for example, sewage sludge is applied to an agricultural area , the substances provided with limit values by the legislator in the Sewage Sludge Ordinance are analyzed. Important substances and groups of substances in environmental analysis are:

Important sum parameters in environmental analysis are:

literature

  • Andreas Siegmund Marggraf: Chemical analysis of water . Chymischer Schriften 1, pp. 273-306 (1768).
  • Robert Angus Smith: Air and Rain: The Beginnings of Chemical Climatology . Longmans, Green, London 1872.
  • Hubert Hellmann: Environmental analysis of hydrocarbons . VCH, Weinheim 1995, ISBN 3-527-28750-7 .
  • Erich Hitzel: Building blocks of practical analytics . Verlag Handwerk und Technik, ISBN 3-582-01232-8 .
  • Stephan Holler, Christoph Schäfers, Joachim Sonnenberg: Environmental analysis and ecotoxicology . Springer Verlag, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-540-58718-7 .
  • Hubert Hein, Wolfgang Kunze: Environmental analysis with spectrometry and chromatography . Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2004, ISBN 3-527-30780-X .
  • Wolfgang Schwack, Michelangelo Anastassiades, Ellen Scherbaum: Residue analysis of pesticides : multi-methods versus diversity of active substances . Chemistry in our time 37 (5), pp. 324-335 (2003), doi : 10.1002 / ciuz.200300298 .
  • Analysis methods for waste and contaminated sites , Swiss Federal Office for the Environment , 2013.