The Department of Environmental Science at University of Helsinki boosts performance thanks to the DMA-80 evo

The University of Helsinki is the oldest and largest university in Finland. The Department of Environmental Science at University of Helsinki holds a high standard for environmental education and research. The research at this department focuses comprehensively on environmental changes caused by human activities. The research is aimed at finding solutions to environmental problems.
The purpose of mercury analysis is mainly research, but it also has been used in some courses for teaching students. Samples analyzed are mostly sh, aquatic animals, plants, sediment, animal tissues, bird feathers, terrestrial plants, moss, mushrooms, and lichens.

The main goal was to find a technique that would avoid contamination of wet chemistry samples pre-treatment before mercury analysis, and to eliminate chemicals and hazardous wastes.
Before the introduction of the DMA-80, the lab had the older Coleman MAS-50, which was a Cold Vapor AAS using SnCl2 for reduction of Hg. It essentially hindered the lab’s overall production as the analysts needed to prepare the samples in solution that was more expensive due to the use of chemicals and time.

The DMA-80 Direct Mercury Analyzer from Milestone was purchased about 10 years ago and it has made Hg analysis faster, easier, with no use of chemicals or hazardous wastes.
The DMA-80 is suitable for Hg concentrations of their samples. Their most common working range is about 0.1 ppm to 2 ppm and the detection limit is considered to be 0.01 ppm. The lab technicians have been using the Milestone DMA-80 earlier model for 10 years now, and they thought the analysis technique was simple and easy to use.
The lab uses standard reference materials in each sample sequence to check the performance of Hg analysis. With the DMA-80 they obtained comparable results with MAS-50. The true value and the key advantage of the DMA is the ease of use: all they need to do is obtain a representative sample, weigh solids or liquids, and run on a calibration curve that is prepared from CRM’s or calibrated with Liquid Standards.