1. Cadmium Levels in People Matthew Marah CHEM 4101 Dec. 9 th, 2011 1

2. Uses of Cadmium (Cd) Nickel-Cadmium Batteries Electroplating – To prevent rusting of metals Pigments for paints Nuclear fission By-product of Zinc & Copper smelting 2

3. Health Effects of Cadmium – Long-term exposure Kidney and liver damage Lung damage – Short-term exposure Respiratory troubles Fatal at high exposure – Carcinogen Possibly cancerous 3

4. Problem  Long-term and high Cd exposure have a negative impact on health and a Cd leak from a plant could cause great damage to people nearby. 4

5. Hypothesis  People who live closer to an industrial plant, that uses Cd or produces it as a by-product, will have higher levels of Cd in their blood than people living further away. 5

6. Chosen Method AAS – Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy – No dilution of sample required – Sample decomposes from heat – LOD = 0.01ng/L – LOQ = 1µg/L – Precision: 1-10% – Cost: $5,000-25,000 – Sample is run in minutes – Blood can be directly injected and analyzed 6

7. Equipment 7 WFX-210 AAS Spectrometer LOD ≤ 6 µ g/L LOQ ≈ 1 µ g/L Precision ≤ 3% for Cd Flame & Graphite Furnace atomizer Wavelength Range: 190-900nm Photomultiplier Tube (PMT) Autosampler built-in

8. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy 8

9. Alternative Methods MethodProsCons Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (AES) Similar procedure and set-up as AAS. Longer time per sample. Ion-Exchange Chromatography (IEC) Better separation of analyte from matrix. Similarly charged ions may interfere. Risk altering results with dilution of sample. 9

10. Alternative Methods Cont. MethodProsCons Capillary Zone Electrophoresis (CZE) Prior experiments done using CZE for Cd analysis. Risk altering results with dilution of sample. Difficult to get good measurement. Potentiometric Stripping Analysis (PSA) Used in previous experiments. Longer time per sample 10

11. Conclusion Using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy would be a good technique to analyze the Cadmium content of blood. Having a machine with an Autosampler may be more expensive, but it allows for multiple samples to be run faster. 11

12. References 1.Center for Disease Control: Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp.asp?id=48&tid=15http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp.asp?id=48&tid=15 2.Crouch, Stanley R.; Holler, F. James; Skoog, Douglas A. Principles of Insrumental Analysis, 6th ed.; Brooks/Cole: Belmont, CA, 2007. 3. Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands. http://www.ecn.nl/docs/society/horizontal/hor20_AAS.pdf http://www.ecn.nl/docs/society/horizontal/hor20_AAS.pdf 4.Environmental Protection Agency. Technology Transfer Network: Air Toxics Web Site. http://www.epa.gov/ttnatw01/hlthef/cadmium.html#ref1http://www.epa.gov/ttnatw01/hlthef/cadmium.html#ref1 5.Qualitest International Inc.: Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometers. http://www.worldoftest.com/wfx-210.htm http://www.worldoftest.com/wfx-210.htm 6.Weston, Andrea; Brown, Phyllis R.; Jandik, Pter; Jones, william R.; Heckenberg, Allan L. Factors affecting the separation of inorganic metal cations by capillary electrophoresis. Journal of Chromatography 1992, 593, 289-295. 12