Mercury Lab awarded NSERC grant for new ultra-high purity water system
Dr. O’Driscoll’s research group was awarded an NSERC RTI grant (~$61,000) for the purchase of a new ultra-high purity water system for trace level analyses in the Mercury Lab. The requested instrumentation will provide improved accuracy and detection limits that are much lower than currently available. This will allow for the examination of new research areas previously not possible due to background levels of some ions in water. Students will benefit from this state of the art equipment for future thesis work. Current projects in the mercury lab include: (i) examining mercury retention in remediated wetlands; (ii) the photochemistry of mercury speciation in water, snow, soils, and vegetation; (iii) the identification of mercury temporal and spatial distribution patterns in air using lichens and trees as passive samplers; and (iv) factors affecting the accumulation of mercury in biota at mercury sensitive sites.
Equipment Details: The Milli-Q IQ7003/Element has many advantages that are particularly useful, including: (i) an integrated reverse osmosis system and reservoir such that pg/L levels of background are achievable; (ii) ion-specific removal of elements for the highest quality water (sub ppt background); (iii) flexible volumetric DI delivery; (iv) flexible positioning of dispenser- up to four E-POD dispensers connected 5 meters from each other; (v) ultrapure water with low TOC (Total Organic Carbon) levels (≤ 2 to ≤ 5 ppb). The unit is also equipped with a mercury-free UV oxidation lamp that has been redesigned for greater accuracy.