Rapid and easy quantification of elemental sulphur in aqueous samples from biological reactors: the turbidimetric method revisited |
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| Authors: | Leandro Augusto Gouvêa De Godoi Carla Eloísa Diniz Dos Santos Eugenio Foresti Marcelo Zaiat Márcia Helena Rissato Zamariolli Damianovic |
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| Institution: | Laboratory of Biological Processes, Center for Research, Development and Innovations in Environmental Engineering, S?o Carlos School of Engineering, University of S?o Paulo (EESC/USP), S?o Carlos, Brazil |
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| Abstract: | Recent developments in wastewater treatment have led to a renewed interest to obtain elemental sulphur (S°) as a by-product from bioreactors. However, practical studies are limited by the gap of adequate analytical techniques for its determination. This paper provides a statistical study and matrix effect evaluation of an adapted spectrophotometric method for routine S° analyses in aqueous samples, based on a methodology previously described by Hart (1961). Four complex matrices were tested: domestic sewage and effluent samples from three different bioreactors. Tested performance criteria included linearity, matrix effect, limit of detection and quantification and S° recovery. Results were linear (R2 = 0.99994) in the studied range (5 to 100 mg S° L?1) and no matrix effect was observed. The accuracy was based on recovery values that varied from 100% to 106%. The colloidal S° separation and extraction protocol was also considered suitable for aqueous samples, reaching more than 99.0% of S° recovery. |
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| Keywords: | Spectrophotometric method elemental sulphur extraction matrix effect analytical method validation wastewater samples elemental sulphur analysis |
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