Prev. Article Next Article Table of Contents

Article

Turbidimetric Analysis of Water and Wastewater Samples Using a Spectrofluorimeter

Your current credentials do not allow retrieval of the full text.

Purchase the full-text

PDF/HTML,
figures/images,
references and tables,
(where available)

Jason J. Evans

Chemistry Department, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA 17013-2896

J. Chem. Educ., 2000, 77 (12), p 1609

DOI: 10.1021/ed077p1609

Publication Date (Web): December 1, 2000

Section:

History, Education, and Documentation

Abstract

As student interest in environmental science grows, many colleges and universities are developing new courses in environmental chemistry. Environmental analysis in the "real world" has become increasingly instrumental, and it is important to introduce students to the instruments and procedures that are commonly used in environmental laboratories. Turbidimetric analysis of water and wastewater is ordinarily performed in environmental laboratories using a nephelometer. This experiment illustrates that a spectrofluorimeter can be successfully employed for these types of analysis. Samples from various stages of the water and wastewater treatment processes were collected from the Carlisle Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants. The students in our Environmental Chemistry laboratory used the spectrofluorimeter to measure the scattering intensity from the samples and from a series of formazine standards. The standard curve produced from their data gave a correlation coefficient of .999, and the detection limit was 0.03 Standard Turbidity Units, which is sufficient to obtain meaningful data on most water samples. This experiment was an excellent supplement to lecture material covering water and wastewater treatment because the students were able to monitor the level of suspended particulates in the water as it makes its way through the treatment plants.

Keywords (Domain):

Analytical Chemistry

Keywords (Subject):

Colloids

View: Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links

Citing Articles

Citation data is made available by participants in CrossRef's Cited-by Linking service. For a more comprehensive list of citations to this article, users are encouraged to perform a search in SciFinder.

This article has been cited by 1 ACS Journal articles (1 most recent appear below).

A Modular Laser Apparatus for Polarimetry, Nephelometry, and Fluorimetry in General Chemistry
Scott A. Darveau , Jessica Mueller , April Vaverka , Cheri Barta , Anthony Fitch and Jessica Jurzenski , Yvonne Gindt
Journal of Chemical Education2004 81 (3), 401
- A Modular Laser Apparatus for Polarimetry, Nephelometry, and Fluorimetry in General Chemistry
  Scott A. Darveau , Jessica Mueller , April Vaverka , Cheri Barta , Anthony Fitch and Jessica Jurzenski , Yvonne Gindt
  Journal of Chemical Education2004 81 (3), 401
  In most chemistry departments general chemistry students are the widest audience for engaging public understanding of the wonders and importance of the discipline of chemistry. Use of lasers for medical, commercial, and scientific purposes has increased, ...
  Abstract | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links