Continouos heavy metal monitoring system for application in river and seawater

An automated voltammetric system using solid electrodes was investigated for continuous and on-line remote monitoring of heavy metals in natural waters. Both a polluted river impacted by a copper mine, and costal seawater were monitored automatically every 30 minutes for six months. The huge difference in these to locations demonstrates the wide application range for this system. Results have been automatically monitored every thirty minutes for six months, and can be correlated against a range of parameters, e.g. season, flow of water, temperature, pH etc. The concentration ranges analyzed have been down in the range from 0.2 mg/L in seawater and up to 3 mg/L in polluted river water. Measurements have been performed every 30 minutes in the monitored real samples, with only minor maintenance of the system. Manual sampling with measurements by ICP-MS has been performed frequently for comparison and quality insurance, and the results show good agreement (r2 _avg = 0.98).