A NEW SENSITIVE AND PORTABLE MERCURY-VAPOR ANALYZER GARDIS-1A

A possibility to build a mercury (Hg) analyzer based on the cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS) with a sub-picogram detection limit was investigated. Construction of the gold traps and the optical cell, carrier gas flow rate and gold traps heating power were chosen in order to effectively concentrate sampled Hg vapor and to obtain hig hest possible response in the optical and electronic system. The newly created analyzer is able to detect 0.5 pg of elemental Hg vapor. Opti mization of construction resulted in stable performance and good selec tivity for gaseous Hg of the analyzer. The instrument is commercially available.