The goal of this research is to develop a low-cost, reliable blood-Pb analyzer. The device will be a dedicated tungsten coil atomic absorption spectrometer. The atomizer will be the filament extracted from normal projector bulbs. A low cost, multi-channel charge coupled device will be the detector. Background correction will be performed by the near-line method. The finished instrument will meet or exceed the CDC's requirements for such a system. A detection limit less than 1 mg/dL for Pb in blood; a sample volume requirement less than 50 mL; an analysis time less than 2 minutes per sample; precision better than 5% RSD; accuracy greater than 95%; an automated system with the option of a manually controlled unit for portable applications; instrument and consumable costs competitive with existing technology; minimal operator training requirements. While these objectives may be unachievable if a wide variety of elements need to be determined in an array of different sample matrices, they become realistic when only a single element (Pb) must be determined repetitively in a single sample type (blood). The instrument will therefore be designed and optimized to perform the specific task required in this important application.
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| Hou, X; Levine, K E; Salido, A et al. (2001) Tungsten coil devices in atomic spectrometry: absorption, fluorescence, and emission. Anal Sci 17:175-80 |
| Peters, H L; Levine, K E; Jones, B T (2001) An inductively coupled plasma carbon emission detector for aqueous carbohydrate separations by liquid chromatography. Anal Chem 73:453-7 |
