Time weighted average concentrations measured with Diffusive Gradients in Thin films (DGT)

Time weighted average (TWA) concentrations can improve the assessment of water quality. DGT (Diffusive Gradients in Thin films) devices have been suggested as simple tools to measure TWA metal concentrations, but the connection of TWA with C-DGT has not been rigorously discussed. It is shown here that C-DGT is the average DGT-labile concentration along the deployment, which suggests that it is well suited to correlate with toxicity effects. In terms of real species, C-DGT is a good estimator of the TWA concentration for simple metal solutions (no ligands are present) when the accumulation takes place under perfect sink conditions. Differences between CDGT and the TWA concentration for short pulses (<40 min), when the transient regime becomes relevant, are reported. In the presence of complexes, C-DGT contains the TWA of the product of the labile fraction times the diffusivity of the complex (relative to that of the free metal). This means that C-DGT can underestimate the TWA of the total metal concentration due to the presence of complexes less mobile than the free metal or not fully labile. These findings are illustrated with Cd, Ni, Mg or Ni + nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) solutions. When only one complex is relevant, as in the Ni + NTA system, a simple correction factor can yield the TWA concentration from C-DGT. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.