Abilities of Raman spectroscopy to detect sulphates, nitrates and phosphates diluted in water

K. Ben Mabrouk (1) , T.H. Kauffmann (1) , M.D. Fontana (1) , Mario Marchetti (2)

1 LMOPS - Laboratoire Matériaux Optiques, Photonique et Systèmes
2 CETE Est - Centre d'études techniques de l'équipement Est

The control of the quality of water is a growing need in our modern societies in order to insure the access of water in healthy conditions to an always rising number of people through the world. This leads to the obligation to detect all pollutants in flow water, rivers, basins, lakes… [1]. This challenge requires new and efficient techniques which are able to provide in situ and quick measurements. Nitrates, sulphates, and phosphates have to be specially purchased since they are very water soluble and lead to negative incidence in the environment. They arise generally from pesticides used in agriculture [2,3]. Techniques generally used for pesticide detection are chromatographic methods like gas chromatography high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. They are relatively sensitive and reliable. However, they had limitations like complex procedure, time consuming sample treatments, and inability for on site detection. Here, we investigated the abilities of Raman probes to detect simultaneously the presence of several pollutants dissolved in water and to determine their concentration as well. Measurements have been done with a 532 nm exciting line using a spectrometer Kaiser RXN1. In Figure 1, one can see that an own signature can be detected by Raman probe for each kind of anion in different spectral ranges. As a consequence, the concentration of each salt in water can be deduced from an appropriate calibration.

Domaines: Physique [physics]

K. Ben Mabrouk, T.H. Kauffmann, M.D. Fontana, Mario Marchetti. Abilities of Raman spectroscopy to detect sulphates, nitrates and phosphates diluted in water. ICEESD 2012, Apr 2012, Venezia, Italy. ⟨hal-00738827⟩