Thermo Fisher Scientific Tackles Nutrient Analysis

By Thermo Fisher Scientific

We have the products for testing nutrients in water to monitor and assess the health of the environmental waters.

The presence of various forms of nitrogen and phosphorus are indicators of the ecosystem's condition. With the influx of these compounds into the environment from natural and man-made sources, these parameters have become critical to understand the cause of the changes to the environment, so it can be corrected. Algae blooms are triggered by excess nitrates and phosphate. These building blocks are required for life; however, often they tip the scales for overgrowth of algae which then starts a sequence of events that alter the ecosystem. Due to these issues, the EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) group is now adding Nitrogen and Phosphate test requirements to some wastewater permits to protect the environment and shrinking drinking water supplies.

The AQ3700 with nitrogen and phosphate tests that are programmed in the meter, provide testing following accepted regulatory methods. The nitrogen tests include the Total Nitrogen digestion tube test where all nitrogen compounds are converted and measured as Nitrogen. This test is similar to the chemical oxygen demand (COD) test and the same Thermo Scientific Orion digester offers all of the temperatures needed for the tube tests. The quicker chromotropic acid test does not require digestion and gives the value of the nitrate level in the sample. The nitrite form may also be measured individually with our EPA-accepted nitrite tests for monitoring drinking water and wastewater per Standard Method test procedures.

We offer tests for total phosphate, acid hydrolyzable phosphate and ortho-phosphate. All tests convert the targeted phosphate forms present in the sample to the ortho-phosphate species for measurement. Using the different tests to measure phosphate, you can differentiate the initial species that are present in your sample The Total Phosphate digestion tube test gives the result all of the phosphate forms in the sample. We also offer separate tests for low and high levels of the same species maximizing the range and the detection limits for the methods using the best of the six wavelengths in the AQ3700 meter.

The AQ3700 meter contains many other tests for environmental water quality plus regulated parameters in drinking water and wastewater. The preprogrammed methods allow the user to follow the onscreen directions for the analysis. This global meter features many languages which can easily be selected from the setup menu. The step-by-step user guide outlines the test procedures and includes possible interferences for the test methods.