The Tekran^® 2600 Total Mercury Analyzer has been upgraded to an In-Vial Purge sample introduction method to reduce cost and improve efficiency. The completely redesigned Tekran^® 3300Xi Hg-CEM system will be on display.  New features on the Tekran^® 2700 Automated Methyl Mercury System and Tekran^® 2537X Air Monitor will also be unveiled. Stop by our booth and see our new advances in mercury quantification!

Tekran User’s Group Meeting
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Louisville Marriott Downtown
Louisville, Kentucky
2:00 pm, Skybox Room

In contrast to most other heavy metals, mercury (Hg) and mercury compounds in the environment exhibit exceptional behaviors including methylation, volatilization and biomagnification. Since mercury is a potent neurotoxin, it is the latter which has spawned particular interest in understanding its production,
transport, speciation and fate.

Mercury is emitted into the atmosphere from natural (e.g. volcanic activity) as well as anthropogenic sources (e.g. combustion processes). It is generally accepted that anthropogenic sources of mercury have surpassed natural sources; a trend which may continue with the world-wide increase in coal burning for electric power generating units. Thus, the incentives for additional measurements of atmospheric mercury and the attendant understanding of its transport, conversion and fate, are clear.

Using Tekran’s Model 2537 and speciation modules 1130 and 1135, American and Canadian researchers have determined that there are exceptionally high levels of gaseous oxidized mercury (a.k.a. RGM) and particulate-bound mercury in the Arctic. A synthesis of Arctic atmospheric mercury speciation measurements made in 5 countries and the linkages to snow and water has recently been summarized. Analogous research at the German Antarctic Station, Neumayer, has revealed similar patterns, including mercury depletion events (MDE’s) after polar sunrise. The German researchers in this program enhanced their study by using the Tekran Ambient Air Mercury Speciation System aboard a research ship near Antarctica.

Just recently, compelling gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) measurements at Cape Point, South Africa were reported for the years 2007 to 2008. The Cape Point observations revealed large MDE’s at a location outside of the polar region. Also observed were pollution events that were attributed to biomass burning and industrial emissions. The article goes on to explain the observations taking into account the chemistry of the marine boundary layer and transport from the continent. One specific conclusion suggests that the residence time of GEM in the marine boundary layer could be much shorter than current estimates.

The GMOS program relies heavily on the Tekran 2537B Automated Mercury Monitor coupled with the Tekran 1130 and Tekran 1135 modules to measure air mercury speciation at ground based locations and during ocean cruises. In order to support GMOS, Tekran staff helped to organize and conduct a 3-day training session on the Tekran 2537-1130-1135 Atmospheric Mercury Speciation System at the CNR site in Rome. Tekran was joined by and worked side-by-side with Mark Olson of the North American Atmospheric Mercury Network (AMNet). There is a productive collaboration between AMNet and GMOS. There were 25 attendees in all from countries such as South Africa, Cape Verde, Argentina and Suriname to name a few.

The concentration of mercury in humans and animals that live in polar regions is on the increase. Polar bears and humans that eat marine mammals are the most affected. 

But why is there more mercury in the Arctic than elsewhere? 



Scientists have been puzzling over this question since the beginning of the 1990s. Their first breakthrough came when it was discovered that under certain meteorological conditions, mercury from the air is deposited on the snow and ice in polar areas. The phenomenon occurs when the sun rises over the horizon in the spring, after a long polar night.

Now new research from NTNU PhD candidate Anne Steen Orderdalen and Professor Torunn Berg at the Department of Chemistry and the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) shows that this process also occurs in the summer as well as in the spring. In a series of publications, the researchers have documented the types of mercury found over the Arctic and are tracking its fate and transport. Essentially, far more mercury is deposited in the Arctic than initially thought, which may be due to the extended time period during which it can be transformed and deposited. 

Scientists still don’t know exactly why and how the process occurs. But sunlight appears to be an important factor. Read More

Tekran is offering an Advanced Users Course for our current and future atmospheric mercury speciation scientists and technicians. The short course will be especially useful to the established and newly developed atmospheric mercury speciation networks such as CAPMoN, AMNet, and GMOS. Traditionally, Tekran often brings newly developed instrumentation to the ICMGP conference to exhibit for the first time. Perhaps this year will be no exception . . . come by our booth and see for yourself.

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The new Tekran^® 2700 Methyl Mercury Auto-Analyzer continues to exceed the performance specifications it was designed to meet. We have established that the unit is capable of sample runs times below 8 minutes. With our all new electronics platform and advanced optics, we have reached even lower sensitivity levels. Using the EPA 40 CFR 136 protocol, we have determined the method detection limit (MDL) for the Tekran^® 2700 to be 0.004 ng/Liter (ppt). The figure below is an example of a low-concentration MMHg peak detected by the Tekran 2700 during the MDL study. The Tek-MDS2 software is used to identify, integrate and report the peak resulting from a 0.02 ng/L MMHg MDL standard.

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The efficacy of the Tekran^® 3300 Hg CEM has again been demonstrated with a successful installation at two Pre-Calciner cement plants in the US. The Tekran^® units have been in continuous operation mode for many months. Both units passed RATA validation and met all PS 12 A and Part 75/60 requirements. Both units successfully capture valid data during mill-off and mill-on conditions, in spite of the variations in mercury emissions. (See chart). The Tekran^® 3300 system software charts mercury emission variations resulting from process control changes including carbon injection and mill input.