According to TASS on August 7, Russian researchers have developed a new method for detecting toxic chlorine compounds in wastewater from petroleum and natural gas enterprises and have obtained a patent for it. The press service of the National University of Science and Technology (NUST MISIS) told TASS that this technology enables more precise assessment of the content of organochlorine compounds and reduces the cost of pollutant analysis.
Irina Muravyova, Associate Professor at the Department of Certification and Analytical Control of the National University of Science and Technology (NUST MISIS), explained that the analysis objects in petroleum and natural gas wastewater are complex, with many toxic chlorine compounds tightly bound to organic substances. The new method combines ionometry with a unique sample preparation technique, allowing the separate measurement of three main forms of chlorine in a single sample.
Muravyova pointed out that chlorine is one of the main pollutants in wastewater from petroleum and natural gas industry enterprises. Existing detection methods are costly and unable to accurately measure the proportions of different types of chlorine compounds (especially organochlorine compounds, which pose significant harm to the environment).
Researchers from the National University of Science and Technology (NUST MISIS) and the Russian Federal Center for Forensic Science have found that using chloride ion-selective electrode ionometry technology can detect various forms of chlorine and determine their concentrations. In the first stage of detection, scientists boil the wastewater sample to be studied, add simple and inexpensive reagents, and measure the proportion of easily soluble inorganic chlorine compounds; then the sample is mixed with alkali and calcined in a special way to measure the total chlorine content in the wastewater. Based on the difference between the total mass of chlorine-containing substances and the mass of easily soluble inorganic chlorine compounds, the concentration of organochlorine compounds can be determined. This measurement does not require expensive or rare reagents and equipment, and offers extremely high precision.
Alevtina Chernikova, Rector of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys at the National University of Science and Technology, summarized that the new method developed by the university is suitable for oil- and gas-containing water bodies with complex compositions, achieving a measurement accuracy of up to 95%. Industrial enterprises can use this efficient tool to conduct environmental monitoring of harmful organochlorine compounds without the need for expensive reagents. The university's press service quoted her statement.
