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Bull Environ Contam Toxicol (2008) 80:561565 DOI 10.1007/s00128-008-9418-5
Detection of Toxic Metals in Waste Water from Dairy Products Plant Using Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy
T. Hussain M. A. Gondal
Received: 17 October 2006 / Accepted: 16 March 2007 / Published online: 15 April 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008
Abstract Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) System was developed locally for determination of toxic metals in liquid samples and the system was tested for analysis of waste water collected from dairy products processing plant. Theplasma wasgeneratedbyfocusinga pulsed Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm on waste water samples. Optimal experimental conditions were evaluated for improving the sensitivity of our LIBS system through parametric dependence investigations. The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) results were then compared with the results obtained using standard analytical technique such as Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectroscopy (ICP). The evaluation of the potential and capabilities of LIBS as a rapid tool for liquid sample analysis are discussed in brief.
Keywords Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) Multi-elemental analysis
Laser diagnostics Waste water analysis Atomic
emission plasma spectroscopy Environmental challenges
Environmental impacts of trace metals
Trace metals detection LIBS applications
In the dairy product industry, there is a need for an analytical technique to be able for on line measurements of
heavy metals and other trace elements in waste water coming from different processes involved. The amount of waste water generated by dairy industrial plant is of huge amount and it can have hazardous effects on environment. Most of the dairy plants produce pasteurized milk, cream, buttermilk, chocolate milk, ice cream mix, and fruit juice drinks. During the manufacturing process of dairy products, raw milk processing is one of the important process. Here raw milk is pumped to centrifuge clarier where undesirable solids in the milk are removed and the waste from the clarier is collected and can be reused as fertilizer. In pasteurized milk processing, waste water is disposed of to the municipal sewerage system. During the washing process, milk remaining in the presses could be contaminated with the chemicals used for the processing and detergents used for cleaning. This contaminated milk is also disposed of in the municipal sewerage system. Similarly, the skim milk from storage tank is pumped to a processing tank. In the processing...