Development of a portable electrochemical instrument for the monitoring of heavy metals.

Christidis, Konstantinos

Abstract

This report describes the development of a novel, portable, electrochemical instrument capable of gathering real-time quantitative data on a range of heavy metal contaminants. The unit is being developed for use on the site of contaminated land or water and is also able to determine the oxidation state of a metal, which is a measure of the metal’s toxicity. The system provides the facilities found in a traditional lab based instrument, in a hand held design. In contrast to existing commercial systems, it can stand alone without the need of a computer and expert operators. At the present stage of development, the instrument is capable of detecting and identifying six different toxic environmental pollutants, lead, cadmium, mercury, zinc, nickel and copper with good sensitivity and precision. Two different identification techniques have been developed. The first technique is based on the statistical profile (probability density function) of oxidation potential. The second method is based on an artificial neural network. The instrument with the combination of a Geographical Position System (GPS) is capable of storing the geographical position of the sample under test. Software has been developed to combine pollutant results with geographical position, in order to produce a cartographical presentation of the pollution of an area.

Citation

CHRISTIDIS, K. 2006. Development of a portable electrochemical instrument for the monitoring of heavy metals. Robert Gordon University, MPhil thesis. Hosted on OpenAIR [online]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.48526/rgu-wt-2807329

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jun 26, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 26, 2025
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.48526/rgu-wt-2807329
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2807329
• Award Date: Jun 30, 2006