Water analysis/Industrial Effluents

Industrial effluents result from various types of industrial processes and disposal practices, and may contain pollutants at levels that could affect the quality of receiving waters, as well as the aquatic ecosystem. The emission of industrial pollutants in liquid effluents has to comply with stringent regulatory requirements and guidelines, in which chemicals listed should not exceed a given concentration. On the other hand, a chemical company may release a large number of different chemicals, which are not considered by regulatory requirements and in many cases are unknown. These compounds may be the final products, precursors, or intermediates of the process, or impurities and byproducts. One of the distinguishing characteristics of effluents of industrial origin, as compared to municipal wastewaters, is that often they may contain a mixture of different and very toxic substances. Approved analytical methods exists for compliance monitoring of conventional pollutants in industrial effluents; however, because of the complexity of the sample matrix, several analytical methods are required to determine polar and nonpolar organic compounds and new emerging pollutants that may impact water quality. As a consequence, modifications in instrumentation, sampling, and sample preparation techniques have become essential to comply with the regulatory water standards, as well as to achieve a faster speed of analysis.