01/08/2021
Samples, measurement setup and result of an ETV-ICP-MS measurement

Samples, measurement setup and result of an ETV-ICP-MS measurement

Source: BAM

Due to the favorable conditions for the production of wind energy on the open sea, a large number of wind farms have been installed by the countries bordering the North Sea and the Baltic Sea in the form of off-shore constructions. This leads to a high number of steel structures (wind turbines, transformer platforms, etc.) in designated areas. To protect these structures, which are located in a highly corrosive environment, various active and passive corrosion protection measures are applied. Passive measures include, for example, corrosion protection coatings, while active corrosion protection is usually realized by galvanic anodes. For off-shore applications, these galvanic anodes usually consist of an aluminum alloy that dissolves and thereby releasing (heavy) metals into the environment. For a wind turbine, between 6,000 kg and 32,000 kg of galvanic anodes based on aluminum are used for the calculated service life of 25 years, depending on the type of construction and the coating selected. Only a small number of studies are currently available to assess the environmental impact that can be expected from the release of these quantities. Therefore, the aim of our research work was to provide analytical methods that allow the examination of the well-established model organism Corophium volutator with respect to metal content. To investigate the biodiversity and the associated variation of individuals within a population, a method based on electrothermal vaporization (ETV) in combination with a mass spectrometer with an inductively coupled plasma as ion source (ICP-MS) was optimized, which allows to analyze mud shrimps directly and individually after freeze-drying. In addition to the information obtained on metal distribution within a shrimp population, the fate of metals within single individuals was investigated using laser ablation coupled to ICP-MS. This technique allows to study the distribution of metals in tissue sections with micrometer resolution. These analytical methods revealed that for the conditions studied there was an accumulation of the (heavy) metals on the organisms - but that there was no uptake.

Determination of metal uptake in single organisms, Corophiumvolutator, via complementary electrothermal vaporization/inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and laserablation/inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
Marcus von der Au, H. Karbach, A. M. Bell, O. B. Bauer, U. Karst, Björn Meermann
published in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, Vol. 35, issue 2, first page e8953, 2021
BAM, division Inorganic Trace Analysis