Pushing the boundaries of mercury, arsenic, selenium analysis in environmental and food samples

P S Analytical (PSA) offer a range of highly specialist analytical instruments measuring levels of mercury, arsenic, selenium, antimony and bismuth in environmental and food and beverage samples.

Detecting the presence of these toxic metals in their various forms is of paramount importance in protecting public health and the environment. International legislation has driven a greater need to determine both total and speciated chemical forms which has pushed the boundaries for the development of reliable and precise instrumentation to face the analytical challenges of sensitivity, selectivity and freedom for interferences.

Whilst the instruments’ level of performance is critical, PSA also pay close attention to ease of use, reliability and robustness as economic operational costs.

For over three decades PSA have been combining Atomic Fluorescence Spectroscopy (AFS) with either cold vapour generation or hydride generation. Speciation studies are possible thanks to PSA’s analyte separation capability which can determine the separation of methyl mercury from inorganic mercury in water, shellfish, seaweed, dairy products, vegetables and grains, or inorganic arsenic from less toxic organo-arsenic species in water, rice and seaweed are examples of routine applications developed to cater for the major environmental and public safety concerns of today.