Portable Arsenic Monitor for Drinking Water
NIH Phase I Contract No. 1 R43 ES011913-01
This program developed a small, portable, low-power electrochemical monitor to detect dissolved arsenic in drinking water. A non-toxic, renewable, microfabricated sensor chip integrated into a compact microfluidic flow system was designed to detect both arsenate and arsenite in water based on a sensitive voltammetric method. This method allows analysis of arsenic without significant dilution or reduction in the sensitivity of the detected analyte. The flow-cell sensor used non-mercury microelectrodes which enhances the sensitivity and limit of detection compared to conventional sized electrodes of millimeter dimensions. The device used a simple pump and valve system for both electrolyte and analyte introduction into the sensor and simple, proven electrochemical instrumentation for arsenic detection. Electrochemical detection of arsenic in aqueous samples is cost-effective and will find use for in situ monitoring of drinking water and surface waters. Our monitor eliminates the need to collect samples in the field for subsequent analysis and is more sensitive than currently available colorimetric field kits.
The proposed monitor is applicable for the measurement of dissolved arsenic in drinking water and may find use in point-of-use or point-of-entry treatment systems that will need to comply with new the new MCL approved by the U.S. EPA and Bush administration. These monitors may also be useful for monitoring industrial wastewater from operations such as mining smelters, wood treatment plants, glass manufacturing, semiconductor manufacturing, electronics, petroleum refining and power generation from coal.