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Trace analysis of heavy metals in groundwater samples using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)

WALID TAWFIK1,2, LEDA G. BOUSIAKOU1,3,* , RABIA QINDEEL1, W.A.FAROOQ1, NORAH H. ALONIZAN1, AMAL J. FATANI4

Affiliation

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  2. Department of Environmental Applications NILES National Institute of Laser, Cairo University Cairo, Egypt
  3. Department of Automation Engineering, Piraeus University of Applied Sciences, 12241 Athens, Greece
  4. Department of Pharmacology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This work focuses on the application of laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in order to detect Cr, Mn, Cu, Cd, Mg and Fe in groundwater samples from the Haier basin near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Considering that this is a particularly arid region, the extensively use of such groundwaters for irrigation purposes needs to be continuously monitored for elements presenting potential toxicity risks for the human health. In this method, commercial wooden sticks have been used as a substrate that absorbs the liquid sample to transform laser liquid interaction to laser solid interaction. Using the fundamental wavelength of Nd:YAG laser, the generated plasma emissions were monitored for elemental analysis. The signal-to-noise ratio SNR was optimized using laser pulse energy of 100mJ at 1064nm, while the ICDD camera detector has gate delay of 15 μs and width of 5 μs. In particular after samples analysis from three different wells it was found that, despite the presence of Mn, Mg and Fe, there was no detection of Cr, Cu and Cd. It is also found that the relative concentrations of the elemental content of the collected changed from one well to the other. The observed results reveal that LIBS offers a promising detection technology that not only allows the detection of a plethora of elements in the lab, but also has the potential to identify elements on site offering an immediate insight for any environmental investigation..

Keywords

LIBS, Groundwater, Nd:YAG laser, Heavy metals, Toxicity.

Citation

WALID TAWFIK, LEDA G. BOUSIAKOU, RABIA QINDEEL, W.A.FAROOQ, NORAH H. ALONIZAN, AMAL J. FATANI, Trace analysis of heavy metals in groundwater samples using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials - Rapid Communications, 9, 1-2, January-February 2015, pp.185-192 (2015).

Submitted at: Oct. 24, 2014

Accepted at: Jan. 21, 2015