Water quality-Determination of suspended substance-Gravimetric method

Water quality-Determination of suspended substance

-Gravimetric method
GB 11901-89
Approved on: 1989-12-25 Implemented on: 1990-07-01
1 Scope and Application
This test method covers the determination of suspended substance in water.
This test method is applicable to the determination of suspended substance in
surface, underground waters, domestic and industrial wastes.

2 Definitions
Suspended substance in water is defined as the sum of residue on the 0.45m
pored membrane when the sample being filtered through a glass filter, and that
residue shall be dried to a constant weight at 103105.

3 Reagents
Distilled water or water with equivalent purity

4 Equipment and apparatus

4.1 Equipment normally used in laboratory and the following apparatus
4.2 Glass filters with Millipore membrane
4.3 CNCA membrane, pore size: 0.45m, grid diameter: 60mm
4.4 Vacuum pump or aspirator
4.5 Forceps, smooth-tipped

5 Sample collection and Storage

5.1 Sample collection
For those polyethylene bottles or glass bottles that would be used later,
use detergent to clean them, then rinse them by tap water and distilled
water in turn, wash them with three portions of sample water again before
sampling, plug them tightly after sampling 500-1000ml waters into them.

Note:
Non-homogenous floating particles or submerged flocculent materials shall
be excluded from the samples because they are not suspended substance.

5.2 Storage of sample

Sample analysis should begin as soon as possible. If preservation is
unavoidable, the sample should be placed in a 4 refrigeration, and the
storage time should not exceed 7 days.
Note:

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 Water quality-Determination of suspended substance-Gravimetric method

To avoid the risk of destroy of the balance between solid substances and
liquid substances, it is prohibited to add any protective material into the
sample.

6 Procedure
6.1 Preparation of membrane
Use forceps to move membrane into the weighted weighing bottle.
Dry weighing bottle in an oven at 103105 for at least half an hour.
Cool filter in a desiccator to room temperature.
When cool, weigh the weighing bottle.
Repeat the above steps of drying, cooling and weighing until weight loss of
the weighing bottle is less than 0.2mg.
Remove the membrane into the membrane filter, place it on the membrane
support dish in a correct way.
Cover the membrane filter with accessorial funnel and fix it with clips.
Apply suction to membrane with a small amount of distilled water and
continue that process.
6.2 Sample Analysis procedure
Mix sample well and pour into a graduated cylinder to the selected volume
100ml.
Pour selected volume into filtration apparatus and apply suction until
sample has completely passed through.
Rinse graduated cylinder into filtration apparatus with three successive
10ml portions of distilled water, allowing complete drainage between each
rinsing.
Remove all traces of water by continuing to apply vacuum after sample has
passed through.
Use forceps to remove membrane now containing suspended solids with
weighted weighing bottle.
Dry weighing bottle in an oven at 103105 for at least an hour.
Cool filter in a desiccator to room temperature.
When cool, weigh the weighing bottle.
Repeat above steps of drying, cooling and weighing until weight loss of the
weighing bottle is less than 0.4mg.

NOTE:
For samples with extremely high solids concentrations, excessive moisture may
be entrained with them, causing not only the established drying time being
prolonged, but also the hardness to filter out, in such case, use a larger
filter to ensure a representative sample volume can be filtered. Normally,
the sample volume should be within 5-100mg suspended solids.

7 Calculations

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 Water quality-Determination of suspended substance-Gravimetric method

To determine the value of total suspended solids in mg/L, the following

calculation should be used:

Where:
CConcentration of suspended substance in watermg/L
AWeight of suspended substance + membrane + weighing bottleg
BWeight of membrane + weighing bottleg
VVolume of sample filtered, mL.