Water analysis

ICP-OES

ICP-OES technology enables the determination of metals across widely varying concentrations and in multiple matrices.

It is frequently used for environmental monitoring and to verify the compliance of raw materials and finished products with regulations or reference specifications, making it today the most versatile and widely used technique for this purpose.

Instrumentation suited for:

  • qualitative and quantitative analysis of metals in water (drinking, natural, wastewater)
  • analysis of soils, sediments, rocks and minerals to determine their composition.
  • heavy metal analysis.
  • characterisation of materials such as alloys, glass, ceramics, bricks. 

ICP-MS

ICP-MS technology enables the measurement of trace and ultra-trace element concentrations, down to picograms per litre, and allows highly accurate isotopic analysis.

Its advantages include sensitivity and precision, speed and simultaneous multi-element analysis capability, along with the versatility to analyse a wide range of organic and inorganic matrices; it can also be combined with various separation or mineralisation techniques, or with laser ablation systems for solid sample analysis. 

Instrumentation suited for:

  • monitoring heavy metals in water (drinking, natural, wastewater)
  • analysis of soils, rocks and minerals to determine their composition.
  • analysis of toxic elements (such as arsenic and lead).
  • isotopic analysis.
  • characterisation of materials such as alloys, glass, ceramics, bricks. 

Photometry and Rapid Chemical Tests

Photometric tests work by determining the absorbance of a sample after adding a specific reagent that changes its colour, and are used to measure parameters such as colour, turbidity and the concentration of specific chemical compounds in water.

Instrumentation suited for:

  • determining the concentration of dissolved substances, such as: chlorides, fluorides, nitrates, phosphates, COD, Cr(VI), etc.

Potentiometry

An electrochemical technique based on measuring the potential difference between an indicator electrode and a reference electrode.

Applications:

  • pH determination
  • Potentiometric titrations
  • Determination of specific ions (fluorides, chlorides, nitrates) using ion-selective electrodes