Abstract
The TZW is field testing partner for an automated (online) water analyser system developed by other partners in a joint research project. Tasks of the TZW include testing and validation of the system for the analysis of organic micropollutants in the aquatic environment (industrial chemicals, pesticides,...). The water analyser which was constructed as a prototype in a former ERU project is based on an immunochemical binding of the analytes on a transducer surface and a subsequent detection of the immobilised species by total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) spectrometry. By using several antibodies which are immobilised at different spots on the transducer surface the simultaneous determination of different analytes becomes feasible. First tests in the laboratory of the TZW yielded a good correspondence of the results between the automated water analyser and conventional analytical methods. For most of the compounds under investigation the sensitivity of the water analyser is comparable to GC or HPLC measurements whereby sample preparation in most cases lasts less than 10 minutes even if four analytes are analysed in parallel.