Urea is an important component of nitrogen cycling in the marine environment, being it excreted by marine mammals, fishes and zooplankton and taken up by several plankton species. Anthropogenic inputs of urea are common in the coastal zones, in particular due to the load of continental waters and to the atmospheric deposition. However, scarce information is still available on this nitrogen compound, mainly because of the lack of robust analytical methods for its determination in seawater. The most reliable technique for urea determination is colorimetry, based on the chemical reaction with diacetyl monoxime. However, this reaction requires hard experimental conditions that make problematic its automation. Since 2004, a new automatic flow-segmented method for urea determination has been developed in the laboratory of the CNR Marine Science Institute of Trieste, which has significant upgrades compared to other existing analyzers. This method was published on the scientific literature and used in several oceanographic studies included in research projects.
L'urea è un importante componente del ciclo dell'azoto nell'ambiente marino, in quanto escreto dai mammiferi marini, pesci e zooplancton ed assimilato da diverse specie planctoniche. Apporti antropici di urea sono comuni nelle zone costiere, in particolare attraverso lo sversamento delle acque continentali e la deposizione atmosferica. Tuttavia, gli studi disponibili su questo composto azotato sono tuttora scarsi, principalmente a causa della mancanza di metodi robusti per la sua determinazione nell'acqua marina. La tecnica più affidabile per l'analisi dell'urea è la colorimetria, basata sulla reazione chimica con la diacetil monossima. Questa reazione decorre però in condizioni che rendono difficile la sua automazione. Dal 2004, è stato sviluppato nel laboratorio di Trieste dell'Istituto di Scienze Marine del CNR un nuovo sistema analitico automatico a flusso segmentato per la determinazione dell'urea, che presenta significativi vantaggi operativi rispetto ad altri apparati esistenti. Esso è stato perciò pubblicato ed applicato nel corso di studi oceanografici inclusi in progetti di ricerca.
Development of a new experimental automatic method for the determination of dissolved urea in seawater
Cozzi Stefano
2013
Abstract
Urea is an important component of nitrogen cycling in the marine environment, being it excreted by marine mammals, fishes and zooplankton and taken up by several plankton species. Anthropogenic inputs of urea are common in the coastal zones, in particular due to the load of continental waters and to the atmospheric deposition. However, scarce information is still available on this nitrogen compound, mainly because of the lack of robust analytical methods for its determination in seawater. The most reliable technique for urea determination is colorimetry, based on the chemical reaction with diacetyl monoxime. However, this reaction requires hard experimental conditions that make problematic its automation. Since 2004, a new automatic flow-segmented method for urea determination has been developed in the laboratory of the CNR Marine Science Institute of Trieste, which has significant upgrades compared to other existing analyzers. This method was published on the scientific literature and used in several oceanographic studies included in research projects.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
