You are here:
PRINCIPLES OF SYNCHROTRON TECHNIQUES, POTENTIAL AND LIMITATIONS
Citation:
SCHECKEL, K. G. PRINCIPLES OF SYNCHROTRON TECHNIQUES, POTENTIAL AND LIMITATIONS. Presented at University of Adelaide, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences Seminar, Adelaide, AUSTRALIA, April 13, 2006.
Impact/Purpose:
to present information
Description:
Once environmental contaminants, such as arsenic, chromium, cadmium and lead, are detected, the problem becomes how to deal with them. For the past decade, researchers at the US EPA in Cincinnati have been employing synchrotron speciation methods to determine the exact chemical forms of metals in soils, sediments, and water. These techniques have tremendous advantages over operationally-defined extraction methods or digestion experiments coupled with mass spec techniques. Synchrotron techniques have revolutionized how scientists can examine atomic-and molecular-level structures. The ability to examine samples in-situ (in its natural state, unchanged) to determine speciation is valuable. Unlike x-ray diffraction, another widely used technique, the samples do not need to be crystalline: synchrotron methods are equally applicable to solutions and amorphous materials which are commonly found in real-world samples. Using synchrotron methods, researchers can determine the chemical composition of contaminants and better understand their toxicity and mobility in the environment; information that could aid mitigation and bioremediation. Synchrotron techniques are also used to examine radioactive waste from weapons production, a major environmental problem.