ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING – Environmental Analytical Chemistry – Chunlong Zhang

ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY

Chunlong Zhang
University of Houston-Clear Lake, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

Keywords: environmental analysis, environmental sampling, environmental monitoring,

sampling design, sample preparation, instrumental analysis, bioanalysis

Contents

1. Historic Perspectives and Scopes of Environmental Analytical Chemistry

1.1 Historic Perspectives
1.2. Unique Features of Environmental Analytical Chemistry
1.3 Scopes and Discipline Organizations
2. Environmental Sampling: Purpose, Design Strategy and Techniques

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2.1. Importance of Environmental Sampling

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2.2. Sampling Design and Strategy
2.3. Sampling Techniques
3. Sample Preparation for Environmental Analysis
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3.1. Purposes of Environmental Sample Preparations
3.2 Types of Environmental Sample Preparation
4. Instrumental Analysis of Environmental Chemicals
4.1. Classical Methods vs. Instrumental Methods in Environmental Analysis
4.2. Molecular Spectroscopy in Environmental Analysis
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4.3. Atomic Spectroscopy in Environmental Analysis

4.4. Chromatography in Environmental Analysis
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4.5. Mass Spectrometry in Environmental Analysis

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4.6. Electroanalytical Methods in Environmental Analysis

4.7. Thermal Methods in Environmental Analysis
4.8. Radiochemical Methods in Environmental Analysis
5. Bioanalysis of Environmental Chemicals
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5.1. Immunoassay
5.2 Biosensors
6. Future Perspectives and Challenges of Environmental Analytical Chemistry
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Glossary
Bibliography
Biographical Sketch

Summary

Environmental analytical chemistry has evolved from the traditional analytical

chemistry to a well-established discipline and a profession attractive to a diverse group
of environmental scientists / engineers, chemists, and educators. Environmental analysis
and monitoring is a very challenging and dynamic field in a sense that it involves the
most uncertain and error-prone stage of acquiring representative samples, laborious
sample preparation from complex matrices, costly instrumental qualification and
quantification of contaminants at the parts per million to parts per quadrillion levels, and
the ever changing requirements for regulatory compliance in monitoring drinking water,

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ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING – Environmental Analytical Chemistry – Chunlong Zhang
 

wastewater, ambient / emission air, and solid / hazardous wastes. The discussions of this
chapter start with the historical perspectives, unique features, and scopes of this
discipline. The importance of representative sampling, the approaches to select cost-
effective sampling design schemes, as well as classical grab / active sampling vs.
passive diffusion-based sampling techniques are delineated, followed by the discussions
of environmental sample preparation goals, various digestion procedures for inorganic
metals, and various extraction and partition based methods for volatile and semi-volatile
compounds. Traditional chemical instrumental methods and their corresponding
environmental applications are briefly described with respect to spectroscopic,
chromatographic, mass spectrometric, electrochemical, thermal, and radiological
methods. Complementary bioanalytical methods currently used in environmental
analysis such as immunoassays and those with promise in future development such as
biosensors are introduced. This chapter concludes with the remarks on the future
perspectives and challenges of environmental analytical chemistry. There is an urgent
need for advancing sampling methodology for practical applications, instrumental

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innovations for faster, more sensitive and affordable bench instruments, and miniature

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sensing devices for real-time monitoring and remote applications.

1. Historic Perspectives and Scopes of Environmental Analytical Chemistry

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Environmental analytical chemistry (EAC) can be envisioned as a branch of analytical
chemistry as well as a branch of environmental chemistry. If we define analytical
chemistry as the study of the separation, identification, and quantification of the
chemical components of natural and synthetic origins, then EAC can be defined as the
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study of the separation, identification, and quantification of the chemical components of

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environmental importance. Since environmental chemistry can be defined as the study

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of contaminant behavior (pollution chemistry), analysis (environmental analytical

chemistry), and chemical control technology (pollution control chemistry), EAC falls
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within the boundary of environmental chemistry as one of its sub-disciplines.

1.1 Historic Perspectives

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From the historical standpoint, however, the origin of environmental analytical

chemistry can be traced from analytical chemistry when environmental issues became
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important and the analysis of environmental contaminants became necessary. In

analytical chemistry, the first aluminum beam analytical balance was developed by
Florenz Sartorius in 1870. Major developments in analytical chemistry, however, did
not occur until after 1900, when many of the basic spectroscopic and spectrometric
techniques were developed during the early 20th century and these instrumentations
were further refined in the late 20th century (Wikipedia 2012). These spectroscopic and
spectrometric techniques still remained in modern day environmental labs for many of
the routine analysis, but the major breakthrough was the instruments for trace inorganic
and organic analysis since the 1950s, including the first commercial gas
chromatography (GC) produced by the Burrell Corp in 1955, first commercial gas
chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) using time-of-flight (TOF) by Bendix
Corp, first commercially successful atomic absorption spectroscopy (AA) by Perkin-
Elmer Inc. in 1963, and the first true high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
by Csaba Horvath at Yale University in 1965 (Zhang, 1997). These instruments have

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since become the mainstream analytical tools for environmental analysis of heavy
metals and organic pollutants such as pesticides, PAHs, and PCBs. The recognition of
all of these contaminants, now referred to as legacy contaminants, took place since the
environmental movement started in 1950s.

Environmental analytical chemistry evolved from traditional analytical chemistry

probably in the early 1980s to the early 1990s. The first textbook bearing the name of
Environmental Analytical Chemistry was published by Mr. F.W. Fifield and Mr. P.J.
Haines (both were lecturers in Kingston University, UK) that provided a wide ranging
review of analytical chemistry having a focus specific to environmental science. It is,
however, apparent that books with partial or similar contents had published much earlier.
After the 1990s, many other related books have been published, some with a broad
coverage (e.g., Loconto, 2001, Trace Environmental Quantitative Analysis; Keith, 1991,
Environmental Sampling and Analysis: A Practical Guide), and others with a specific
coverage within the discipline of environmental analytical chemistry (e.g., Erickson,

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1995, Analytical Chemistry of PCBs). Current textbooks in Environmental Chemistry

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contain contents of environmental analytical chemistry as a separate chapter, such as
Manahan (2000) and Girard (2010). Many of these environmental analytical chemistry
books were mostly written by people with traditional analytical chemistry expertise and
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placed a focus on the “analytical” aspect, whereas “sampling” as a much bigger
contributor to the total error in environmental measurements was excluded or kept
minimal. Such has been changed when the quality of environmental data was pointed
from the laboratory measurement to the field sampling of air, water, soil, and solid
waste materials. Sampling guidelines have been published by various governmental
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agencies, and a textbook addressing both environmental sampling and analysis have
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also been published (e.g., Zhang 2007, Fundamentals of Environmental Sampling and
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Analysis). Many colleges and universities around the world are now offering an
environmental analytical chemistry course or an equivalent course as a proper training
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needed for students in the environmental curricula. Increasing research attention has
been placed on the development of new sampling methodology and innovative
instrumentations for environmental measurements, as is evident in published papers
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among diverse international journals such as International Journal of Environmental

Analytical Chemistry, Journal of Environmental Monitoring, Analytical Chemistry,
Journal of Chromatographic Science, and Environmental Science and Technology.
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Graduates with training and education in this field often find rewarding employment
opportunities in government agencies, industrial sectors, consulting firms, research and
commercial laboratories, and academic institutions.

1.2. Unique Features of Environmental Analytical Chemistry

Environmental analytical chemistry has the root of analytical chemistry, but as a well-
established and an independent discipline, it differs from the traditional analytical
chemistry in several aspects (Fifield and Haines, 2000; Zhang, 2007):

(a) Low concentration: Except for some conventional testing parameters, most
environmental pollutants are present at the trace level or ultra trace level rather
than in the units of percent (%), molarity (M), or normality (N) commonly seen
in the analytical chemistry field. The concentrations could be from as high as

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parts per million (ppm), parts per billion (ppb), parts per trillion (ppt), to as low
as parts per quadrillion (ppq), or even lower. In laymen’s term, 1 ppt (10-12) is
equivalent to one drop of water diluted into 20 Olympic-size swimming pools
(50,000 m3), or about three seconds out of every hundred thousand years. In a
similar analogy, 1 ppq (10-15) is equivalent to 1 drop of water diluted into a
cube of water measuring approximately 368 meters on a side (fifty million
cubic meters, which is a cube about as tall as the Empire State Building's 102
stories), or two and a half minutes out of the age of the Earth (4.5 billion years)
(Wiki). Many of the emerging environmental contaminants are present at the
ppt levels, and measurements of contaminants at the ppq level have also
become feasible.

(b) Complex matrices: Environmental matrices are diverse, including air, surface
water (river, lake), drinking water, groundwater, soil, aerosol, sediment, sludge,
hazardous waste, biological specimen (blood, fat, hair, plant tissues) and many

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other types, and are sometimes of unknown origins. Detecting trace levels of

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environmental pollutants from complex matrices requires complex and tedious
procedures to remove interference and background bulk chemicals, separate
chemicals of interest, and concentrate the aliquot to the detectable levels. Thus,
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not only instrumental analysis is essential, but also the sample preparation is
critical for the expected accuracy and precision of the entire procedure. Many
times, this sample preparation adds the critical component of the uncertainty
and variability toward the overall environmental measurement.
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(c) High cost for both sampling and analysis: Often times, environmental projects
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involve lots of samples to delineate spatial or temporal patterns of

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environmental pollutants. The costs for sampling and analysis for a large
number of samples will be high. In some cases, sampling cost is low relative to
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analytical cost (e.g., the cost for a group of trace organic compounds in soils
can be in the range of $50 to $400 per sample). In other cases, analytical costs
might be low compared to sampling, for example, when samples are taken in a
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remote place for some routine chemical measurements.

(d) Demand of in-situ monitoring and automation: In situ monitoring may become
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the only option in certain circumstances such as atmospheric monitoring (e.g.,

SO2, O3, and NOx) and effluent from wastewater treatment plants. In most cases,
automation (e.g., auto sample collection or injections) is essential when dealing
with a large number of samples to avoid labor-intensive and less reproductive
manual efforts. A reliable and robust automation and the capacity of in-situ
measurements are the key to the success for environmental monitoring.

(e) Subject to laws and regulations: An awareness of “environmental laws and

regulations” in the daily work of environmental sampling and analysis is crucial.
First, one should recognize that all environmental sampling and analytical work
(some academic research excluded) is regulations-driven, such as the work
done by the law enforcement agencies (federal, state, and local environmental
agencies) and manufacturers/industries whose responsibilities are to assure the
regulatory compliance with the effluent and emission standards. Second, many

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ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING – Environmental Analytical Chemistry – Chunlong Zhang
 

of the environmental sampling and analytical protocols are in the categories of

“regulatory methods” as opposed to “consensus methods”. For the former, they
are approved by a regulatory agency and are mandatory under a certain
program or law such as the Safe Drinking Water Act and the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System by the U.S. EPA. The consensus methods are
not regulatory enforced methods but are published by a professional
organization such as ASTM or NIOSHA.

1.3 Scopes and Discipline Organizations

Environmental analytical chemistry is the applied analytical chemistry concerning

environmental pollutants, and in the meantime it is the measurement tool in the field of
environmental chemistry to qualify and quantify environmental pollutants. It is
important to note that “pollutants” or “contaminants” in this writing has the broad
meaning of not only the “chemical” pollutants, but also the biological, thermal,

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radiological or other physical parameters of environmental interest (Figure 1).

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Environmental analytical chemistry can be further grouped into different subjects. As
illustrated in Figure 1, its subject contents can be classified according to (a) the types of
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environmental parameters (inorganic, organic, biological/toxicological, radiological); (b)
its operational procedures from sampling, sampling preparation, sample analysis to data
analysis; and (c) the types of environmental matrices such as air (ambient atmosphere,
emission air), liquid (drinking water, wastewater), solids (soil, sediment, sludge, solid
waste and hazardous waste), and biological specimen (foods, plants, animals, and
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human fluids and tissues).

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In the traditional analytical chemistry context that often focuses solely on “analysis”,
the analytical methods are divided into wet-chemical methods and instrumental methods.
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The wet-chemical methods are gravimetric or volumetric types such as those methods
used for the measurement of suspended solids (SS), chemical oxygen demand (COD),
and biological oxygen demand (BOD).
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The instrumental analytical methods nowadays represent the majority of the

environmental analytical methods, including molecular spectroscopic methods (UV-VIS,
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IR), atomic spectroscopic methods (AA, ICP), chromatographic methods (GC, HPLC,
and IC), mass spectrometric methods, electrochemical methods, thermal methods, and
radiological methods (Figure 1).

In the sections that follow (Section 2 through 5), the fundamentals of environmental
analytical chemistry are discussed in the logical order of their operations: environmental
sampling, sample preparation, analytical chemical methods based on instruments, and
biological based methods.

Certain important topics such as data analysis unique to environmental reporting and
quality assurance / quality control (QA/QC) are excluded in the following discussions
due to limited space. Interested readers are referred to the books by Helsel (2005), Korte
(1999), and Keith (1991) for details.

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Figure 1. Environmental analytical chemistry in relation to analytical chemistry and

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environmental chemistry, and its three different types of organization framework.

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2. Environmental Sampling: Purpose, Design Strategy and Techniques

2.1. Importance of Environmental Sampling

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The purpose of sampling is to obtain representative samples in a cost-effective manner.

Sampling theory and practice is not something developed just for the collection of
“environmental” samples. This old scientific discipline was based on sound probability,
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statistics, and applied sciences in a wide range (social, political and natural sciences)
such as social surveys as well as sampling in metallurgy, pharmaceutical science,
material sciences and petroleum industries.

Even though some sampling theories were developed almost a century ago, sampling
work of most environmental projects is still performed in an empirical or semi-empirical
manner. As early as in 1954, Murphy indicated in an editorial note in Analytical
Chemistry that sampling is a subject analogous to weather in that many people talk
about it but do nothing to improve the situation. This statement is still true today for
environmental sampling. In most published environmental work, laboratory and
instrumental analyses are fully justified with regard to accuracy and precision, but
sampling design and representativeness are hardly mentioned. Ort et al. (2010) found
that only 11% of the 87 papers in the studies of pharmaceutical and personal care

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products in wastewater systems provided justifications for sampling in clear contrast of

99% on analysis.

Two factors probably contribute to the above-mentioned lack of awareness of sampling

relative to analysis in the environmental community. The first is the technical difficulty
in quantifying the sampling error contribution to the total error. This is in clear contrast
with the readiness of the quantification of analytical errors in the lab by the
determination of recovery and precision. The second factor is the subjective
misconception among many environmental professionals that sampling error is small in
comparison with the analytical error.

The true fact of the matter is that sampling errors usually dominate the total errors of the
environmental data acquisition. Mar et al. (1986) indicated that analytical measurement
errors are typically 25% for physical/chemical parameters and 50% for biological
parameters. However, sampling errors due to natural variations can be in the range of

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100% to 400%. With this assumption, Zhang and Zhang (2011) employed Monte Carlo

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simulation and obtained the following regression between the total error ( y ) vs.
sampling error ( x1 ):
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y = 1.01x1 + 23.9 ( R 2 = 0.97 ) (1)

The R 2 value of 0.97 reveals that over 90% of the errors can be explained by the error
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during the sampling process. Whereas for the relationship between total error ( y ) and
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the analytical error ( x2 ), the following linear regression was obtained:

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y = 1.25x2 + 141 ( R 2 = 0.04 ) (2)

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The low R 2 value of 0.04 and the insignificant relationship between the total error and
analytical error implied that improvement in analytical measurement will not
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significantly improve the overall data quality if sampling error is large. These Monte
Carlo simulation results should make sense in practice because sampling is the first step
in the overall data acquisition process. If an unrepresentative sample is collected, or if a
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bad sample is collected due to a poor technique or cross-contamination, then the

subsequent analysis by an analyst in the lab is wasted. A poor sample will by no means
result in good data representative of the population to be sampled. In fact, such data
may give misleading information.

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Bibliography

Erickson, M. D. (1995), Analytical Chemistry of PCBs, second edition, Lewis Publishers, 667 pages.
[This is the most authoritative single source book for the analysis of PCBs, having both general and
detailed PCBs-related literature of about 2,000 bibliographic citations].
Fifield, F. W.; Haines, P. J. (2000), Environmental Analytical Chemistry, second edition, Blackwell
Science, London, UK, 512 pages. [A balanced textbook with principles of analytical chemistry and
contexts of environmental analysis].
Girard, J. E. (2010), Principles of Environmental Chemistry, second edition, Jones and Bartlett Publishers,
Sudbury, Massachusetts, 687 pages. [An easy to read environmental chemistry textbook that also includes
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Greenwood, R.; Mills, G.; Vrana, B. (2007), Passive Sampling Techniques in Environmental Monitoring,
Elsevier, 486 pages. [Written by international specialist experts, this book offers a comprehensive review
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Helsel, D. R. (2005), Nondetects and Data Analysis: Statistics for Censored Environmental Data, Wiley,

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Hoboken, NJ, 250 pages. [This book presents statistical methods for interpreting and analyzing censored
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Keith, L. H. (1991), Environmental Sampling and Analysis: A Practical Guide, Lewis Publishers, Boca
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Korte, N. (1999), A Guide for the Technical Evaluation of Environmental Data, Technomic Publishing
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investigation].
Loconto, P. R. (2001), Trace Environmental Quantitative Analysis: Principles, Techniques, and
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Applications, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York. 646 pages. [A book with an insight into the principles of
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trace environmental quantitative analysis, focusing on data reduction and interpretation, sample
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preparation and instrumental analysis from a wide range of environmental matrices].

Manahan, S. E. (2000), Environmental Chemistry, seventh edition, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, 898
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pages. [A popular environmental chemistry textbook that also has chapters for the analysis of water,
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effective methods for obtaining data on water quality, Environmental Science and Technology, 20:545-
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Science and Technology, 7:1547-1562. [This article is a review of the fundamental aspects and
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I. Immunosensors, Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 14(7):341-350. [This paper introduces the principles
and potential environmental applications of various immunosensors currently in the research and
developmental stage].
Murphy, W. J. (1954), editorial note, Analytical Chemistry, 26, 441. [This is a short editorial note
regarding the importance of sampling].
Murray, R. (2010), Challenges in Environmental Analytical Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, 82(5):1569.
[This is a short editorial note pointing to the challenges in environmental analytical chemistry].
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Chemical Sciences in the 21st Century, National Research Council (2003), The Environment: Challenges
for the Chemical Sciences in the 21st Century, 190 pages (http : / / www . nap . edu / catalog / 10803 .

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ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING – Environmental Analytical Chemistry – Chunlong Zhang
 

html). [A report developed by a group of well-known scholars summarizing the important past
discoveries and future challenges in environmental chemical science].
Ort, C.; Lawrence, M. G.; Rieckermann, J.; Joss, A. (2010), Sampling for Pharmaceuticals and Personal
Care Products (PPCPs) and Illicit Drugs in Wastewater Systems: Are Your Conclusions Valid? A Critical
Review, Environmental Science and Technology, 44 (16):6024–6035. [Based on results from previous
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2002), Guidance on Choosing a Sampling Design for
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Environmental Data Collection for Use in Developing a Quality assurance Project Plan, EPA/240/R-
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02/005. [This U.S. EPA guideline provides assistance in developing an effective QA Project Plan
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teams].
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Zhang, C. (1997), Fundamentals of Environmental Sampling and Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, 456
pages. [This unique textbook for environmental analytical chemistry or a related subject focuses on the
overall framework and various methodologies in environmental sampling and analysis].
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Zhang, J.; Zhang, C. (2011), Sampling and sampling strategies for environmental analysis, International
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Biographical Sketch

Chunlong (Carl) Zhang is a Professor of Environmental Science and Chemistry at the University of
Houston-Clear Lake, and a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Louisiana. He received his
Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science and Master of Science degree in Environmental
Chemistry from Zhejiang University, and earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Louisiana
State University. He teaches several undergraduate and graduate level courses including environmental
chemistry, lab for environmental analysis, environmental sampling and monitoring, contaminant fate and
transport, and environmental remediation. His research interests are in the areas of emerging contaminant
analysis, contaminant fate and transport at the air-water-sediment interfaces, biodegradation of explosives
in contaminated soils, and development of novel remediation technologies. He is the author of a well-

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received university textbook entitled Fundamentals of Environmental Sampling and Analysis published
by John Wiley & Sons in 2007.

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