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- Development of a sequential injection gas diffusion system for the determination of ammonium in transitional and coastal watersPublication . Segundo, Ricardo Alves; Mesquita, Raquel B. R.; Ferreira, Maria Teresa Soares Oliveira Barbosa; Teixeira, Catarina Fernanda Carvalho Pinheiro; Bordalo, Adriano Agostinho; Rangel, António O. S. S.This work describes the development of a sequential injection system for the ammonium determination in transitional and coastal waters with a wide salinity range. Estuarine waters are rather complex matrices as their characteristics change considerably along the salinity gradient, as well as the ammonium levels. The developed system effectively solves these issues by converting ammonium into ammonia and using a gas diffusion unit (GDU) for matrix removal. The ammonium determination in a wide quantification range (0.1–5.0 mg L−1) was obtained with small changes in the protocol sequence and was applied, not only to estuarine samples, but also well water samples (low salinity) and coastal waters (higher salinity). Spectrophotometry was the chosen detection system to measure the absorbance change in the bromothymol blue acid base indicator caused by the diffusion of ammonia through the GDU. Additionally, the developed system used a green chemistry approach, as there was no indicator reagent consumption per determination, still maintaining a good precision (relative standard deviation lower than 2%) and a low detection limit, 27 μg L−1 (1.5 μM).
- Development of a flow method for the determination of phosphate in estuarine and freshwaters - Comparison of flow cells in spectrophotometric sequential injection analysisPublication . Mesquita, Raquel B. R.; Ferreira, M. Teresa S. O. B.; Tóth, Ildikó V.; Bordalo, Adriano A.; McKelvied, Ian D.; Rangel, António O. S. S.A sequential injection system with dual analytical line was developed and applied in the comparison of two different detection systems viz; a conventional spectrophotometer with a commercial flow cell, and a multi-reflective flow cell coupled with a photometric detector under the same experimental conditions. The study was based on the spectrophotometric determination of phosphate using the molybdenum-blue chemistry. The two alternative flow cells were compared in terms of their response to variation of sample salinity, susceptibility to interferences and to refractive index changes. The developed method was applied to the determination of phosphate in natural waters (estuarine, river, well and ground waters). The achieved detection limit (0.007 mu M PO43-) is consistent with the requirement of the target water samples, and a wide quantification range (0.024-9.5 mu M) was achieved using both detection systems.