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Equipment

The department of Inorganic Environmental Chemistry has instruments for the trace analysis of inorganic and particulate pollutants and for the determination of isotope ratios in a wide range of environmental samples. Various ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) instruments are primarily available for the determination of element concentrations and isotope ratios. In addition, coupling with chromatographic separation methods allows the speciation of elements to be analysed. Different imaging and spectroscopic devices are used to analyse microplastics and other particulate analytes.

General laboratory infrastructure and sample preparation

  • Clean rooms (class 1000 und 10000) und clean benches (class 100) for inorganic trace analysis
  • Filtration units for pressure and vacuum filtration of water samples
  • Continuous flow centrifuges (Thermo Scientific Heraeus Contifuge Stratos, Thermo Scientific Sorvall Lynx 6000)
  • Subboiling stills
  • Laser particle sizer for particle size determination (Fritsch Analysette 22)
  • Freeze-drying (Christ Alpha, Christ Gamma)
  • Microwaves for acid digestion (CEM Discover SPD, CEM Blade, CEM Mars 6, CEM MARS 5)
  • Automated system for pre-concentration and matrix removal for seawater (Elemental Scientific seaFAST pico, Elemental Scientific seaFAST SP2)
  • Automated matrix removal system for isotope analysis (Elemental Scientific prepFAST MC)

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)

  • ICP-CC-MS (Agilent 7500cs, Agilent 7700cs, Agilent 7900cs)
  • ICP-MS/MS (Agilent 8800, Agilent 8900#100)
  • MC ICP-MS (Nu Instruments Nu Plasma II with ESI Apex Omega desolvation unit)

Sample introduction and coupling techniques for ICP-MS

  • ESI Fast Autosamplers for normal an micro sample handling
  • GC (Agilent 7890B + Agilent GC-ICP-MS Interface)
  • HPLC (Agilent 1260, Agilent 1100 Cap/Nano)
  • CE (Agilent 3DCE + CETAC CEI100 Interface)
  • Field flow fractionation system (PostNova CF2000)
  • Laser ablation unit (ESI NWR 193 + 2 vol chamber/DCI)
  • Automated system for online pre-concentration and matrix removal for seawater (Elemental Scientific seaFAST pico, Elemental Scientific seaFAST SP2)

Microplastic sampling and sample preparation

  • Sampling system "Geesthacht Inert Microplastic Fractionator"
  • Hydrocyclones for sampling
  • Continuous flow centrifuges (Thermo Scientific Heraeus Contifuge Stratos, Thermo Scientific Sorvall Lynx 6000)
  • Microwaves for particle digest (CEM Discover SPD, CEM Blade)

Particle characterisation

  • Laser Direct Infrared (LDIR) Imaging (Agilent 8700 Chemical Imaging System)
  • Field flow fractionation system (PostNova CF2000)
  • ATR-FTIR (Agilent Carry 630)
  • Stereomicroscopes
  • Laser Microdissection and Pressure Catapulting (PALM® MicroBeam)

Field infrastructure