Biotreatment is under consideration as a feasible alternative in remediating mixed-waste sites that are contaminated with organic chemicals as well as metals. Monitoring the bioremediation of such sites requires techniques for analyzing metals in the presence of interfering organics. Glass plates coated with TiO_2 were used in a photocatalytic process to collect mercury, lead, copper and cadmium from aqueous solutions. The collected metals were reconstituted in an acidic solution to allow accurate determination by stripping voltammetry. The titania-coated glass plates were also used to remove all metals in the analysis waste to leave metal-free solutions, as asserted with stripping voltammetry. The double-purpose utilization of the photocatalytic process provides a convenient and sensitive, interference-free method for on-site metal analyses, while producing metal-free waste.
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