Clean Sampling and Analysis of River and Estuarine Waters for Trace Metal Studies

Summary

Special care using "clean techniques" is required to properly collect and process water samples for trace metal studies in aquatic environments. A protocol for sampling, processing, and analytical procedures with the aim of obtaining reliable environmental monitoring data and results with high sensitivity for detailed trace metal studies is presented.

Abstract

Most of the trace metal concentrations in ambient waters obtained a few decades ago have been considered unreliable owing to the lack of contamination control. Developments of some techniques aiming to reduce trace metal contamination in the last couple of decades have resulted in concentrations reported now being orders of magnitude lower than those in the past. These low concentrations often necessitate preconcentration of water samples prior to instrumental analysis of samples. Since contamination can appear in all phases of trace metal analyses, including sample collection (and during preparation of sampling containers), storage and handling, pretreatments, and instrumental analysis, specific care needs to be taken in order to reduce contamination levels at all steps. The effort to develop and utilize "clean techniques" in trace metal studies allows scientists to investigate trace metal distributions and chemical and biological behavior in greater details. This advancement also provides the required accuracy and precision of trace metal data allowing for environmental conditions to be related to trace metal concentrations in aquatic environments.

This protocol that is presented here details needed materials for sample preparation, sample collection, sample pretreatment including preconcentration, and instrumental analysis. By reducing contamination throughout all phases mentioned above for trace metal analysis, much lower detection limits and thus accuracy can be achieved. The effectiveness of "clean techniques" is further demonstrated using low field blanks and good recoveries for standard reference material. The data quality that can be obtained thus enables the assessment of trace metal distributions and their relationships to environmental parameters.

Introduction

It has been commonly recognized that some trace metal results obtained for natural waters may be inaccurate owing to artifacts arising from inadequate techniques applied during sample collection, treatments and determination^1,2. The true concentrations (in sub-nM to nM range in surface waters ³) of dissolved trace metals are now up to two orders of magnitude lower than previously published values. The same situation has been found in marine chemistry where the accepted dissolved trace metal concentrations in oceanic waters have decreased by orders of magnitude over the last 40 years or so as improved sampling and analytical methods have been introduced. Efforts have been made to improve data quality with the developments of "clean techniques" aiming at the reduction or elimination of trace metal contamination throughout all phases of trace metal analysis ^4-8. For the determination of trace metal concentrations at ambient levels, preconcentration is often required. Ion-exchange techniques ^8-12 have been commonly applied for efficient preconcentration.

Contamination can arise from the walls of containers, the cleaning of the containers, the sampler, sample handling and storage, and sample preservation and analysis ^7,13. All studies using clean methods conducted more recently indicate that trace metal concentrations in natural waters are typically well below the detection limits of routine methods ⁷. Since the recognition of suspect trace metal data in the early 1990s, clean methods have been incorporated into US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Guidelines for trace metal determination ¹⁴ and the US Geological Survey has adopted clean methods for their water quality monitoring projects ¹⁵. Clean methods for trace metal studies need to be employed in all projects in order to create a firm and accurate data base.

In principle, water samples used for trace metal determination should be collected with appropriate sampling gears of a particular material and composition, stored and treated properly using appropriate containers and apparatus, before proceeding with instrumental analysis. Since suspended particulate matter (SPM) can undergo changes during the sample storage period and alter water composition, rapid separation of SPM from water samples is a common practice for trace metal studies in aquatic environments. For the determination of dissolved trace metal concentrations in natural waters, filtration is necessary and in-line filtration techniques are suitable and efficient.

Distribution and behavior of trace metals in aquatic environments such as surface and ground waters can be affected by natural (e.g., weathering) and anthropogenic (e.g., wastewater effluents) factors, as well as other environmental conditions, such as regional geology, morphology, land use and vegetation, and climate ^16-19. This can then lead to differences in physicochemical parameters such as concentrations of suspended particulate matter (SPM), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), anthropogenic ligands (e.g., ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, EDTA), salt, redox potential and pH ^17-20. Therefore, accurate and relevant trace metal studies require appropriate collection of samples for trace metal analysis as well as for the determination of related factors and parameters.

Protocol

1. Sampler Preparation

1. Sampler
   1. Assemblage of sampler
      1. Connect a 4 m long fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) tubing (I.D. 0.635 cm, O.D. 0.95 cm or similar) to a 1.5-m chemically resistant silicone pumping tube (O.D. 0.635 cm).
      2. Insert a polypropylene Y-connector into the pumping tube, and connect a 50-cm pumping tube to one outlet, and a 0.45 μm capsule filter (by a 20-cm pumping tube) to the other.
      3. Assemble the tubings in a clean room (bench) after they are cleaned (see below), and store the assemblage in two layers of polyethylene bags.
   2. Sampler cleaning
      1. Fill (by attaching the 1.5-m pumping tube onto a peristaltic pump) the tubing set with lab detergent solution and soak it for 24 hr. Flush the tubing set with de-ionized water, then fill it with 10% (v/v) HCl (Reagent Grade) and soak for 48 hr.
      2. Thoroughly flush the tubing set with de-ionized water several times, and store the assemblage in plastic bags. Clean the Y-connectors and short pumping tubes by soaking them in a 50% (v/v) HNO₃ (Reagent Grade) solution for 24 hr.
   3. Capsule filters
      1. Clean the capsule filters by first flushing them with de-ionized water, then 10% (v/v) HCl solution for a 48-hr soaking step.
      2. After acid soaking, flush the filters with de-ionized water and add 1 ml of 21% (weight) NH₄OH (sub-boiled) solution into each filter to neutralize the acid.
      3. Seal individual filter with a loop of 30-cm cleaned-pumping tube connecting the inlet and outlet, and store in polyethylene zippered bags.
2. Sample containers
   1. Use polyethylene (PE, 1,000-ml) and FEP (500 ml and 1,000 ml) bottles for containers for trace metal determination.
      1. Clean the bottles by soaking them first in detergent (1%), then in 50% (v/v) HNO₃ (Reagent Grade) and 10% (v/v) HCl (Reagent Grade) solutions for 24, 48 and 24 hr, respectively, and rinse the bottles with de-ionized water between the two soaking steps.
      2. After a final HCl soaking, rinse the bottles thoroughly with de-ionized water (DIW) and dry the bottles (with cap sealed) in a clean room or class-100 clean bench.
      3. Seal cleaned bottles in polyethylene zippered bags and double-bag them in polyethylene bags for transport.
   2. Clean glass bottles for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) determination
      1. Soak amber borosilicate glass bottles (40-ml), for analysis of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), in 10% HCl for 48 hr. Rinse cleaned glass bottles with de-ionized water, and combust them at 480 °C for 2 hr before use. Seal the bottles individually in zippered polyethylene bags for transport.

2. Sampling

1. Water sample collection
   1. Upon arrival at the sampling site, mark sample identification number on the outer bag, and keep the bottles in their original bags.
   2. At the river bank or on a boat, have one person open the bag with the sampler and attach the 4-m FEP tubing to a 3-m polypropylene pole (cleaned). Extend the pole as far from the bank as possible and keep the inlet of the FEP tubing approximately 30 cm below the surface of running river water before the pump is turned on.
   3. Have another person attach the pumping tube to the pump head of a peristaltic pump (sampling pump with internal batteries). Start the pump and drain the water (downstream side) at least 3 times of the total sampler volume. Put on powder-free gloves and open the bag of bottles and caps to start filling the sample bottles.
      1. Alternatively, if another person is available, have the third person be in charge of opening the inner bags and sample caps, and holding the sampling tube that drains the sample into the bottle.
   4. Collect an unfiltered sample in a 125-ml plastic bottle for measurements of conductivity, temperature and pH in the field.
   5. Collect unfiltered samples (500-ml or 1,000 ml for particulate sample collection) first (through the outlet without a filter) and then close the outlet with a plastic clamp to force water to go through the capsule filter to collect a filtered water sample (1-L for dissolved trace metal determination).
   6. Collect filtered samples (through the outlet with the filter) in 40-ml amber glass bottles for DOC and EDTA measurements.
   7. Collect water samples at a flow rate of approximate 500 ml/min to 1,000 ml/min. Replace capsule filters when the pressure starts to build up (according to the filters' specification). For each type of sample, collect extra samples, as well as field blanks, at selected locations to serve as quality control aliquots.
   8. Place the 40-ml glass bottles on dry ice and stored in an ice chest, and polyethylene bottles in ice chests.
2. Collection of suspended particulate matter (SPM)
   1. Collect SPM on 0.4 μm polycarbonate (PC) membrane filters (acid washed and pre-weighed) by vacuum filtration, using a plastic filtration funnel and vessel.
   2. Freeze dry membrane filters in the lab to yield SPM concentrations and provide particle samples for particulate trace metal determination.

3. Sample Pretreatment (Dissolved Trace Metals)

1. For dissolved trace metal determination, add 2-ml concentrated sub-boiled HNO₃ (per 1-L sample) into sample bottles. Transfer dissolved trace metal samples (acidified) into FEP bottles. Alternately, samples can be collected directly into FEP bottles. UV-irradiate the samples in FEP bottles for 24 hr (8 15-watt UV lamps).

4. Preconcentration and Treatments for Trace Metal Analysis

1. Preconcentration resin
   1. Weigh 2 g of cation exchange resin into a small (10-30 ml capacity) plastic cup and add a small amount of 2 N HNO₃ solution into the cup. Pour the resin into a 10-ml capacity chromatography column. Clean the resin by washing the column with 5-ml 2 N HNO₃ (sub-boiled) twice, and rinse with high purity water (HPW) 3 times.
   2. Add 10 ml of 1 M NH₄OH (sub-boiled) into the column to convert the resin to NH₄⁺-form.
2. Buffer solution (1 M ammonium acetate)
   1. Add 57 ml of glacial acetic acid (sub-boiled) in approximately 800 ml of HPW. Add ~60 ml of ammonium hydroxide (21%, sub-boiled) and mix with acetic acid. Adjust the final pH to 5.5 and the final volume to 1,000 ml.
3. Preconcentration procedure (dissolved trace metals)
   1. Adjust the pH of the acidified, UV-irradiated samples to 5.5 ± 0.3 by adding 30 ml of 1 M ammonium acetate buffer solution and some (~2.8 ml) NH₄OH (sub-boiled) into the samples.
   2. Place the sample bottle ~30 cm above the column packed with cationic exchange resin (Section 4.1) and connect the sample bottle and preconcentration column by a ~60 cm FEP tube and chromatography cap and connector (female Luer).
   3. Control the flow rate at 3-5 ml/min using a 2-way stopcock, connected above the column. Allow the samples to pass through the preconcentration columns. After the samples have passed the column, disconnect the tubes and caps from the columns.
   4. Treat the columns with 2 x 5-ml HPW and 4 x 5-ml of 1 M ammonium acetate (pH 5.5), and 2 x 5-ml of HPW to separate major cations from other trace metals.
   5. Place a 30-ml acid-washed PE bottle just below the column and wash the column with 7 x 1-ml 2 N HNO₃ (sub-boiled) into the PE bottle.
   6. Determine the volume of 2 N HNO₃ effluent (~8.0 ml) by obtaining the weight and specific gravity of the 2 N HNO₃ effluent.
4. Digestion of suspended particulate matter
   1. Freeze dry PC filters with SPM samples and weigh them after drying. Place SPM samples, with filters, into pre-weighed perfluoroalkoxy alkanes (PFA) vessels (60-ml capacity), and add 3 ml of concentrated HNO₃ into the vessels.
   2. Tighten the vessels to a constant torque of 2.5 kg-meters, and digested in a conventional oven at 130 °C for 12 hr. After cooling, open the vessels and add 2 ml of HF into the vessels.
   3. Tighten the vessels to a constant torque of 2.5 kg-meters, and digested in a conventional oven at 130 °C for 12 hr. After cooling, open the vessels and add 16 ml of 4.5% boric acid solution into the vessels.
   4. Tighten the vessels to a constant torque of 2.5 kg-meters, and digest in a conventional oven at 130 °C for 12 hr. Weigh each vessel and determine specific gravity of each digest solution to yield final digest volume.
   5. Calculate a dilution factor for each digest from the final volume and weight of SPM on filter (final digest volume divided by sample weight on filter).

5. Sample Analysis

1. Trace metals
   1. Determine trace metals (Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) concentrations in pre-concentrated dissolved sample and solution from particulates using flame atomic absorption spectrometry, graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry, and/or inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer.
   2. Determine major ions concentrations and some trace metals, in sub-samples drawn prior to preconcentration and digests of suspended particulate matter, by an inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry.
2. Ancillary parameters
   1. Determine sample temperature, pH, salinity and conductivity in the field, using portable devices.
   2. Determine dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations by a Total Organic Carbon Analyzer, based on wet oxidation with carbon dioxide detection by infrared spectrometry ²¹. Determine total EDTA concentration by a high performance liquid chromatography (with a SPD-M10AV Diodearray detector) following the established procedures ^22,23.

Results

With the development and use of "clean techniques", it is now well recognized that in order to obtain accurate trace metal concentrations in ambient waters, preconcentration of trace metals in waters samples is a common practice. While most water quality criteria for trace metals in natural waters are in the low μg/L range, lower detection limits are needed to investigate geochemical and biological effects on trace metals at ambient concentrations in aquatic environments.

Discussion

Obtaining reliable trace metal data in natural waters requires great care as emphasized during sample collection, processing, pretreatments, and analysis that aim to reduce contamination. Trace metal concentrations in natural waters obtained using "clean techniques" in the last two decades found that the concentrations can be orders of magnitude lower than previously reported. Water quality criteria for trace metals in waters are now more readily assessed when trace metal levels are accurately measured resulting ...

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Nitric Acid	Seastar Chemicals		Baseline grade
Ammonium hydroxide	Seastar Chemicals		Baseline grade
Acetic Acid	Seastar Chemicals		Baseline grade
Nitric Acid	J. T. Baker	9601-05	Reagent grade
Hydrochloric acid	J. T. Baker	9530-33	Reagent grade
Chromatographic columns	Bio-Rad	7311550	Poly-Prep
Column stack caps	Bio-Rad	7311555
Cap connectors (female Luers)	Bio-Rad	7318223
2-way stopcocks	Bio-Rad	7328102
Cation exchange resin	Bio-Rad	1422832	Chelex-100
Portable sampler (sampling pump)	Cole Palmer	EW-07571-00
FEP tube	Cole Palmer	EW-06450-07	6.4 mm I.D., 9.5 mm O.D.
Pumping tube	Cole Palmer	EW-06424-24	6.4 mm I.D. C-Flex
Capsule filter (0.4 mm)	Fisher Scientific	WP4HY410F0	polypropylene casing
1 L low density polyethylene bottle	NALGE NUNC INTERNATIONAL	312088-0032
1 L (or 500 ml) FEP bottle	NALGE NUNC INTERNATIONAL	381600-0032