Driving a car or burning coal cause multiple effects. When consuming fossil fuel, besides the greenhouse effect, we generate a series of compounds potentially carcinogenic, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). In the University of Granada, a research group is developing an instrument able to detect and measure in a continuous way the presence of benzopyran, one of the most harmful hydrocarbons for the human being.
To develop this system, the researchers of the group supervised by the University of Granada (UGR) Professor Alberto Fernández Gutiérrez have applied their experience in the field of molecular luminescence. Certain molecules show this phenomenon; they respond to external excitation emitting an electromagnetic radiation in the form of radiant energy. Depending on certain features of such emission, like wavelength and lifespan, we can determine the type of molecule that produces it, as well as its concentration.
Such molecular responses “can be measured”, the researcher of the University of Granada explains. We need sensors to do that, devices that, when comino into contact with Duch molecules, set off their luminescent properties. Here is where researchers have concentrated their efforts, testing several materials that act as sensor phases.
Sensor phases
“An appropriate sensor phase will allow excitation and light emission phenomenon of molecules with reproducibility and guarantee to be correctly measured”, Alberto Fernández argues. Every tested material can capture a given molecule, so it was necessary to select a representative one of the PAHs group. Thus, researchers selected benzopyran, whose concentration levels reflect those of other similar PAHs. This substance is adhered to other particles of the atmosphere, like dust, and it can also pass into water from there.
Through the system developed by the researchers of the University of Granada, samples of benzopyran can be directly collected, both from air and from water; afterwards the compound luminescence is stimulated with an optical fibre, which acts as a transmitter of the response until a system that analyses the emission wavelength. This way, a concentration measure of this harmful substance can be obtained in situ and in real time, in contrast to the conventional measuring systems, which are carried out in the laboratory and in a period of days.
Environmental quality
“In ten years, the legal requirements of water for public consumption will be very exacting, which will force to have more and more sensitive sensors”, Antonio Segura says, researcher of this group. This new system is the only one that can measure the level of benzopyran allowed by the EU in water for public consumption. This research line is colllaborating with the Andalusian Water Institute, and the prototype has already been successfully tested in the de supply network of Granada and its metropolitan area.
In addition, researchers hope to apply this system in the environment control stations of the cities with the support of the Environment Department of the Andalusian Council, an institution that has financed the development of the prototype. The following steps in the development of this system are aimed to the creation of a portable sensor, a completely novel product in the market. The researchers of the University of Granada have the collaboration of engineers of the Universities of Gijón and Navarra.
The future of environmental sensors aims to the simultaneous and accurate measuring of different parameters at the same time. Both Alberto Fernández and Antonio Segura set out the interest of the group in continuing the study into sensor phases, to create a “multiparametric” sensor able to measure chemical compounds simultaneously.
Reference:
Prof. Alberto Fernández Gutiérrez. Professor of Analytical Chemistry of the University of Granada. Researcher responsible for the group ‘Analytical, environmental, biochemical and food control’ FQM297
Phone number: 958 243 297 / 687 890909.
E-mail: albertof@ugr.es
Prof. Antonio Segura Carretero. Researcher teacher of the FQM297 research group.
E-mail: ansegura@ugr.es
