High-resolution measurement and mapping of tungstate in waters, soils and sediments using the low-disturbance DGT sampling technique

Dong-Xing Guan; Paul N Williams; Hua-Cheng Xu; Gang Li; Jun Luo; Lena Q Ma

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2016.05.026

High-resolution measurement and mapping of tungstate in waters, soils and sediments using the low-disturbance DGT sampling technique

J Hazard Mater. 2016 Oct 5:316:69-76. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2016.05.026. Epub 2016 May 9.

Authors

Dong-Xing Guan¹, Paul N Williams², Hua-Cheng Xu³, Gang Li⁴, Jun Luo⁵, Lena Q Ma⁶

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
² Institute for Global Food Security, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT9 7BL, United Kingdom.
³ State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
⁴ Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China. Electronic address: esluojun@nju.edu.cn.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China; Soil and Water Science Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.

PMID: 27209520
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2016.05.026

Abstract

Increasing tungsten (W) use for industrial and military applications has resulted in greater W discharge into natural waters, soils and sediments. Risk modeling of W transport and fate in the environment relies on measurement of the release/mobilization flux of W in the bulk media and the interfaces between matrix compartments. Diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT) is a promising passive sampling technique to acquire such information. DGT devices equipped with the newly developed high-resolution binding gels (precipitated zirconia, PZ, or ferrihydrite, PF, gels) or classic/conventional ferrihydrite slurry gel were comprehensively assessed for measuring W in waters. (Ferrihydrite)DGT can measure W at various ionic strengths (0.001-0.5molL(-1) NaNO3) and pH (4-8), while (PZ)DGT can operate across slightly wider environmental conditions. The three DGT configurations gave comparable results for soil W measurement, showing that typically W resupply is relatively poorly sustained. 1D and 2D high-resolution W profiling across sediment-water and hotspot-bulk media interfaces from Lake Taihu were obtained using (PZ)DGT coupled with laser ablation ICP-MS measurement, and the apparent diffusion fluxes across the interfaces were calculated using a numerical model.

Keywords: Diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT); Hotspot—bulk media interface; Precipitated zirconia (PZ) gel; Sub-mm high-resolution; Tungsten.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't