UCC-2023-11 - for Supply, Delivery, Installation & Commissioning of a Simultaneous Absorbance-Transmittance and fluorescence Excitation-Emission Matrix (A-TEEM) Spectrometer for UCC, Cork

Descriptions

This spectrometer system will be used to measure fluorescent dissolved organic matter in aqueous solution from environmental water samples including surface water, groundwater, wastewaters (agricultural and urban) and soil pore waters. These aqueous solutions will contain a wide range of naturally fluorescent compounds under UV-visible wavelengths where the intensity of the fluorescence is proportional the concentration of the individual compounds present whose spectra can be identified by subsequent parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). It is anticipated that the samples analysed will include a mixture of compounds with a wide range of concentrations and a capability to measure absorbance simultaneously will allow for inner filter effects to be corrected for on a single instrument and provide a unique molecular fingerprint. Specifically, the spectrometer system being tendered for will be used to quantify fluorescent precursors of potentially harmful disinfection byproducts which form during chemical disinfection of drinking water where dissolved organic matter is present in source waters. Other projects will include applications in tracking biological oxygen demand in groundwater and surface water and reactive tracer field/laboratory experiments.