Les déchets solides générés par notre société sont nombreux. Les cendres volantes sont des déchets solides produits lors de la combustion de déchets domestiques ou industriels dans des incinérateurs. Les cendres volantes sont également produites par la combustion du charbon dans les centrales à charbon. Les cendres volantes sont des résultats de ces combustions et représentent importante quantité de déchets produits chaque année par notre société. Les possibilités de recyclage de ces déchets sont nombreuses : dans la construction, l'industrie routière. Elles sont également stockées pour une utilisation ultérieure. Les origines différentes des charbons et déchets incinérés conduisent à une minéralogie et une composition élémentaire complexe. En tant que sous-produit le devenir des cendres volantes est important à déterminer, aussi la détermination de la composition élémentaire de ces cendres volantes est-elle indispensable.Les méthodes classiques de préparation des échantillons solides sont la minéralisation acide ou la fusion alcaline. Ces procédures prennent du temps et supposent l’utilisation de réactif, de plus la digestion complète n'est pas toujours assurée. Le risque de contamination par les réactifs employés est important au cours de ces méthodes classiques de préparation. Au cours de la dernière décennie, le développement d’analyse directe d'échantillons solides en utilisant des méthodes d'ablation laser a été important en raison de la nécessité de réduire le temps d'analyse et de réduire aussi la consommation de réactifs. Dans ce travail, deux méthodes basées sur l'ablation par laser seront étudiées pour l'analyse des cendres: Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) et Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). La spectrométrie LIBS sera étudiée pour la détermination quantitative des éléments majeurs dans les échantillons de cendres alors que le couplage ablation laser ICP / MS sera employé pour détermination des éléments traces. L'optimisation de la sensibilité et les stratégies d'étalonnage sont les principaux problèmes traités dans ce travail. La préparation des échantillons et l’optimisation ont été effectuées pour déterminer les éléments tels que Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Pb, Sr, V et Zn par les deux méthodes.Les performances analytiques telles que les limites de détection, justesse ont été obtenus à la suite d'optimisations appropriées des liants et de la sélection de l’étalon interne approprié. En conclusion, l’analyse directe de solides en utilisant les techniques basées sur l’ablation laser développées dans ce travail conduisent à une justesse acceptable pour la détermination des éléments majeurs et traces dans les cendres volantes / Solid waste generated by our society are numerous, fly ashes are produced during the combustion of domestic or industrial waste in incinerators. Fly ashes are also produced through coal combustion in coal fired power plants. Fly ashes are results of these combustions and represent important quantity of waste produced every year by our society. They have variable use – in construction, road industry, or they can be stocked for further use. As they are result of different origin, they have complex mineral and elemental composition. As a by-product or as a recycled product fly ashes fate is important to determine. In this view the determination of the elemental composition of fly ashes is the aim of this work.Conventional methods of sample preparation are acid digestion or alkali fusion. These procedures are time and reagent consuming and complete digestion is not assured. The potential contamination of the reagents employed is important during these classical sample preparation methods. During the past decade, development of direct solid sampling using laser ablation methods was important due to the need of reducing analysis time and also reducing reagent consumption. In this work, two methods based on laser ablation will be studied for fly ash analysis: Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). LIBS will be studied for quantitative determination of major elements in fly ash samples while Laser ablation / ICP MS will be employed for trace element determination.The sensitivity optimization and different calibration strategies are key problems of laser sampling methods. Sample preparation and condition optimisation were performed to determine major, minor and trace elements such as Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Pb, Sr, V and Zn by both methods – LIBS for major elements and LA-ICP-MS for minor and trace elements.Analytical properties such as detection limits, accuracy and analytical working curves were obtained following suitable optimisation of binders and internal standards. Compromise binder and analytical conditions were selected to determine the elements in fly ash samples.In conclusion, direct solid sampling using laser ablation followed by LIBS or for solid introduction into ICP was found to determine major, minor and trace elements in fly ashes, improving pellets mechanical stability, high samples sensitivity and acceptable accuracy and detection limits.

The electrodeless plasma discharge is typically driven by radio frequency (RF) power supply within the range (0.2 &iexcl / 40 MHz). The applied power is coupled into the plasma inductively called inductively coupled plasma (ICP). RF ICP technique has achieved significance importance in a diversity of research and industrial applications for over the last threes decades. It is still required to undertake both theoretical and experimental research. In this work, RF ICP technique is applied on the torch modeling in 2D. Based on extended electromagnetic vector potential representation, an axisymmetric model in 2D is proposed for the calculations of the electromagnetic fields in an RF ICP torch. The influence of axial vector potential is included to the vector potential formulations. This is achieved by imposing a helical current carrying wire configuration. The corresponding governing equations are solved numerically by applying finite element method (FEM) using commercial partial differential equation solver (Flex PDE3). Based on this model, the plasma behavior and properties are examined in terms of plasma parameters. Besides, a comparative iii analysis is made between proposed model called helical configuration and the one currently available in the literature called circular configuration. This study shows relatively little difference between temperature fields predicted by two models. However, significant difference is observed between corresponding flows and electromagnetic fields. Especially, tangential flow which is observed in helical configuration vanishes in circular configuration. The proposed model offers an effective means of accounting for the variations of the helical coil geometry on the flow and temperature fields and achieving a better representation of the electromagnetic fields in the discharge. Finally, it is concluded that minimum number of turns (n = 2) yields significant difference between two models whereas, maximum allowable number of turns yield no distinctions on the results of two models in terms of azimuthally applied current. However, axial effect of current still exists but very small with respect to the result obtained with minimum number of turns.

In analytical chemistry the main goal is normally to determine the identity and/or concentration of one or more species in a sample. The samples analyzed are often natural samples, containing numerous different species in a complex matrix and the choice of technique for multi-elemental detection is in general inductively coupled plasma spectrometry. The chemical forms of an element can affect many of its characteristics e.g. toxicity, which makes speciation analysis important. Therefore, determination of the identity and quantity of an element is still important, but for many applications measurements of total element concentration provides insufficient information. To be able to perform speciation analysis, separation, identification and/or characterization of the various forms of elements in the sample has to be accomplished. Speciation analysis has been employed in a wide range of disciplines, including for example environmental science, biology and clinical chemistry. This thesis describes work to improve and understand the elemental speciation analysis with liquid chromatography coupled to plasma spectrometry and also highlights the importance and potential of the synergy between atomic spectrometry and molecular mass spectrometry. The combination of the matrix tolerant, robust and very sensitive plasma spectrometry used together with molecular mass spectrometry, which provides structural information and the possibility to identify unknown species, is demonstrated to be a very powerful tool for speciation analysis. In this thesis methods are developed for on-line sample clean-up and pre-concentration coupled to liquid chromatography and plasma spectrometry, which makes handling of small sample volumes easier and also decreases the risk of contamination. The problems associated with organic modifiers in plasma spectrometry are also addressed. Applications of speciation analysis are exemplified by analysis of aluminium-chelated siderophores in field-soil solutions and organic phosphorous species in aquatic sediments. The possibility to analyze un-dissolved samples as slurries with minimal sample preparation is also discussed.

This work deals with elemental analysis of inorganic materials, that are presented by blast furnace slag and geopolymeric material containing fly-ashes. In the theoretical part there are explained principles of elemental analysis of inorganic materials. Ways of dissolution of samples, optical emission spectroscopy and electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray analysis are commented. In experimental part the ICP analysis of oxide standards is described. The standards were used for estimation of EDS-correction factors. Then follow the preparation, proving and use of standards in analysis of blast furnace slag. The work is finished by exact analysis of concentration profiles of elements in interface of phases in geopolymeric material.

Nanopartiklar är partiklar med storlekar i området 1 till 100 nm, och som uppvisar nanospecifika egenskaper. Egenskaperna kan variera helt mellan olika typer av nanopartiklar, även bland partiklarna och deras respektive material i bulk format på grund av deras unika storlekar, former och strukturer. I denna studie har vi analyserat storlekarna och den kolloidal stabiliteten på tre nanopartiklar, Co, Y2O3, CeO2 i färskvatten och färskvatten med naturligt organiskt material med hjälp av sonifikation, NTA, AAS och ICP analys. Nanopartiklarna lät vara utsatta i lösningarna i upp till six timmar, där analys med hand av NTA skedde efter den nollte, första och sjätte timmen. Partiklarna uppvisade olika egenskaper, och alla tre partiklar varierade i storlek under experimentet. Kobalt hade tendensen att minska i storlek i bägge lösningar, medan storlekarna på yttrium- och cerium oxid tenderade att variera. För att främja vår förståelse av nanopartiklar, behövs fler studier för att få en full förståelse för de unika egenskaperna hos dessa partiklar. / Nanoparticles are particles with sizes in the range of 1 to 100 nm, which also have nanospecific properties. Their properties vary wildly between different types of nanoparticles, even among nanoparticles and their respective particles in bulk format heeding to their highly individual shapes, sizes and structures. In this study we analyzed the sizes and colloidal stability of three different nanoparticles, Co, Y2O3 and CeO2 in freshwater and freshwater with natural organic matter solutions using sonication, NTA-, AAS-, and ICP analysis. The nanoparticles were exposed to the solutions for up to six hours, with analysis being performed at the zero, first and sixth hour. The particles indeed showed different properties, as all three particles varied in size throughout the experiment. Cobalt had the tendency to decrease in size as time progressed in both solutions, while the mean size of yttrium- and cerium oxide varied. To further our understanding of nanoparticles, more studies need to be performed to properly understand the individual properties of these nanoparticles.