Jun 08, 2012

D19 Standards Used for Measuring Regulated Pollutants in Wastewater

Ten standards developed by ASTM International Committee D19 on Water have been included in a final rule published in the Code of Federal Regulations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to approve methods for measuring regulated pollutants in wastewater. Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analysis of Pollutants Under the Clean Water Act; Analysis and Sampling Procedures, was signed by Lisa P. Jackson, EPA administrator, on April 17 and was published in the Federal Register Volume 77, Number 97 (Friday, May 18, 2012).

Many of the standards in the Methods Update Rule are either new or revised standards for the analysis of cyanides in water. Conventional cyanide methods used for compliance monitoring have historically been problematic due to interference issues. The new ASTM standards implement technology and chemistries that are less susceptible to these matrix interferences so that the results should be more accurate, says John Sebroski, senior scientist, Bayer Material Science LLC, and chairman of the cyanide task group within Subcommittee 19.06 on Methods of Analysis for Organic Substances in Water.

According to the EPA, the new and revised standards being added to 40 CFR 136, Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analysis of Pollutants, through the final rule “will provide increased flexibility to the regulated community and laboratories in their selection of analytical methods for use in Clean Water Act programs.” By their inclusion in the final rule, the following approved methods can be used for determining compliance with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits or other monitoring requirements:

• ASTM D2036-09 (B), Test Methods for Cyanides in Water;
• ASTM D6888-09, Test Method for Available Cyanide with Ligand Displacement and Flow Injection Analysis (FIA) Utilizing Gas Diffusion Separation and Amperometric Detection;
• ASTM D7284-08, Test Method for Total Cyanide in Water by Micro Distillation Followed by Flow Injection Analysis with Gas Diffusion Separation and Amperometric Detection;
• ASTM D7511-09, Test Method for Total Cyanide by Segmented Flow Injection Analysis, In-Line Ultraviolet Digestion and Amperometric Detection;
• ASTM D4282-02, Test Method for Determination of Free Cyanide in Water and Wastewater by Microdiffusion;
• ASTM D7237-10, Test Method for Free Cyanide with Flow Injection Analysis (FIA) Utilizing Gas Diffusion Separation and Amperometric Detection;
• ASTM D888-09 (A), Test Methods for Dissolved Oxygen in Water;
• ASTM D7365-09a, Practice for Sampling, Preservation and Mitigating Interferences in Water Samples for Analysis of Cyanide;
• ASTM D7573-09, Test Method for Total Carbon and Organic Carbon in Water by High Temperature Catalytic Combustion and Infrared Detection; and
• ASTM D7065-06, Test Method for Determination of Nonylphenol, Bisphenol A, p-tert-Octylphenol, Nonylphenol Monoethoxylate and Nonylphoenol Diethoxylate in Environmental Waters by Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry.

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ASTM Committee D19 Next Meeting: June 10-14, 2012, Cleveland, Ohio
Technical Contact (cyanide standards): John Sebroski, Bayer Material Science, LLC, Phone: 412-777-3420, ext. 2227; john.sebroski@bayer.com
ASTM Staff Contact: Alyson Fick, Phone: 610-832-9710; afick@astm.org
ASTM PR Contact: Barbara Schindler, Phone: 610-832-9603; bschindl@astm.org

Release #9213