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Home ›› About Speciation ›› Speciation News

New Reference Material for Hexavalent Chromium in Contaminated Soil

(03.02.2009)

NIST has issued a new reference material to aid in the detection and measurement of the potent carcinogen hexavalent chromium in soil. The new reference material will provide a crucial benchmark for the high-quality chemical measurements needed to guide and assess cleanup efforts.

Background:
Chromium, familiar to most people as the shiny, highly polished metal known simply as chrome, is widely used in many industrial processes and products ranging from an anti-corrosion agent in automobiles and stainless steel , to paints, dyes and leather tanning. Chromium can occur in a number of different chemical forms including trivalent chromium, considered to be a micronutrient, and hexavalent chromium, classified to be cancerogen.

Reprocessed waste, consisting of a mix of trivalent and hexavalent chromium containing compounds, was dumped in sites around the country during the 1940s and 1950s. In New Jersey alone, authorities have identified more than 160 sites in need of cleanup.

The new certified reference material:
To aid in reducing the uncertainty surrounding these important measurements, NIST scientists in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) have prepared and assigned certified values for Standard Reference Material (SRM) 2701, Hexavalent Chromium in Contaminated Soil, High Level.

The material for the new SRM was collected from a waste site in Hudson County, N.J. After milling, blending, and sterilizing, scientists analyzed the samples for hexavalent chromium using several EPA-approved methods

based on species-specific isotope dilution for chromium speciation analysis designed to minimize and compensate for possible species-transformation during the analysis.

Photo: NIST scientists collected soil contaminated with hexavalent chromium, a potent carcinogen, from a site in Hudson County, N.J., to create a new Standard Reference Material (SRM). The SRM will help labs and govern- ment agencies determine the degree to which a site is contaminated and evaluate the effectiveness of cleanup efforts.

Credit: Long, NIST

The contaminated soil SRM has been assigned certified values for hexavalent chromium, total chromium, iron and manganese as well as reference values for other elements of environmental interest including aluminum, calcium, magnesium, nickel, silicon, sulfur, titanium and vanadium.

About NIST:
Standard Reference Materials are among the most widely distributed and used products from NIST. The agency prepares, analyzes and distributes more than a thousand different materials that are used throughout the world to check the accuracy of instruments and test procedures used in manufacturing, clinical chemistry, environmental monitoring, electronics, criminal forensics and dozens of other fields.

Source: NIST (adapted)

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