Nitrate In Natural Waters Research Articles

Fluorimetric determination of nitrate in natural waters with 3-amino-1,5-naphthalenedisulphonic acid in a flow-injection system

A rapid, sensitive and precise flow-injection method for the determination of nitrate in natural waters is presented. Nitrate is first reduced in a copperized cadmium column to nitrite, which reacts with 3-amino-1,5-naphthalenedisulphonic acid to form the azoic acid. This acid forms a fluorescent salt in alkaline medium. The injecton rate is about 30 h −1, the relative standard deviation for 10 injections of 2 × 10 −5 M nitrate is 0.8%, and the detection limit ( S/N = 3)_is 1 × 10 −8 M nitrate.

Flow-injection determination of nitrate in natural waters with copper- and copperised cadmium tubes in the reaction manifold system

An automated method for the determination of nitrate-nitrogen in surface, ground and domestic water based on flow-injection spectrophotometry is described. Nitrate is reduced to nitrite with a copperised cadmium tube in the reaction manifold. Nitrite is diazotised with sulphanilamide and the product is coupled with N-(1-naphthyl)ethylenediammonium dichloride to form a highly coloured azo dye, which is measured at 520 nm. A copper tube, incorporated into the reaction manifold before the copperised cadmium tube not only improves accuracy in the long run, but also extended the lifetime of the copperised cadmium tube. The sampling rate is 50 samples per hour. The method is suitable for the determination of nitrate-nitrogen with a coefficient of variation of better than 1.5%.

Use of disposable clean-up columns for selective removal of humic substances prior to measurements with a nitrate ion-selective electrode

Measurements of nitrate in natural waters with a nitrate ion-selective electrode are seriously affected by the presence of humic substances. These can be removed quantitatively by a clean-up procedure with cheap disposable adsorption columns packed with chemically-bonded alkylamino silica. The method is applied to natural water samples with high contents of humic substances. The nitrate concentrations found were in good agreement with determination by ion chromatography.

Determination of nitrate in natural waters by flow-injection analysis

Nitrate was determined in natural water samples by flow-injection spectrophotometry. It was reduced to nitrite with copperized cadmium and the nitrite thus produced reacted with p-aminoacetophenone and m-phenylenediamine. The limit of detection was about 1.5 μg l−1 for sample injections of 650 μl. The sampling rate was about 40 samples h−1 and the relative standard deviation was above 1% for 0.1–0.3 mg l−1 nitratenitrogen. Nitrite present in the sample was determined separately and subtracted.

A reactivation solution for a copperized cadmium column in the automatic determination of nitrate in natural waters

A reactivation solution for a copperized cadmium column in the automatic determination of nitrate in natural waters

Rapid field determination of nitrate in natural waters

Abstract Brucine, an organic reagent used for nitrate determinations, proved stable for at least one year when dissolved in methanol. This makes possible a consistently accurate and rapid method for field determinations of nitrate in clear solutions with a minimum of equipment. The method is also useful in the laboratory for determining nitrate in water or soil extracts. It is quicker and simpler than other colorimetric methods and more sensitive to low concentrations than the nitrate electrode.

The spectrophotometric determination of nitrate in natural waters, with particular reference to sea-water

Nitrate can be reduced to nitrite in good yield by means of hydrazine in alkaline solution; the reaction is promoted by catalytic quantities of copper. The authors have established the optimum conditions for tlie reduction and applied the method to the determination of nitrate in fresh waters and in sea-waters. The nitrite formed is determined by Mellon and Rider's modification of the Griess-Ilosvay procedure. The reduction with hydrazine is carried out in the presence of 0.25 p.p.m. of copper at pH 9.6 in a solution buffered with sodium phenate. It is complete within 24 hours at room temperature. The method will detect ca. 0.3 μg NO 3 N l and gives a standard deviation of ca. 2% in the range 20-600 μg NO 3- N l . Up to 60 determinations can be made per 6 hour working period. The interference of nitrite has been investigated. Ammonium salts, urea, and amino acids do not interfere, at the concentrations at which they occur in sea-water. It is preferable to analyse samples immediately after collection, but if this is not possible, they should be filtered, sterilized with 2 p.p.m. of mercuric chloride and stored in glass containers.