Zheng Cunjiang: Analysts who never stop

In the early 1980s, university graduates were assigned to the geological system. Now he is the director of the Research Office of the Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources of Zhejiang Province. Since then, Zheng Cunjiang has struggled in the field of geological analysis for more than 30 years. “It is difficult for a person to keep working on his own work but it is difficult to stick with it. Although I initially did not voluntarily join the geoanalysis testing industry, 85% of the ingredients were passive,” laughed Zheng Cunjiang, “but later I liked it more and more. Gradually fell in love with the job."

For more than 30 years, Zheng Cunjiang has continued to advance on the road to the development of geological analysis and detection technology. During this period, not only many analytical methods were developed, many standard materials were developed, and many problems in geological research were solved. In recent years, Zheng Cunjiang has strongly advocated the concept of “green analysis”, saving costs and reducing the harm of analysis and detection on the environment and human beings. Moreover, he actively carried out research and development of related analytical instruments and promoted the development of domestic analytical instruments.

Prof. Zheng Cunjiang of the Zhejiang Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Professor Zheng Cunjiang, who is on the podium of the geological analysis station, is always the protagonists of the screen. However, there is no behind-the-scenes staff. Nothing can be accomplished. “We are also like this. In the geological industry, analysis and testing are always a supporting role, but although we are not on the podium, we are also an indispensable role. If our data has a slight error, it will give the country A large amount of waste has been caused. From the preliminary census to the mid-term prospecting ..... modern geological prospecting, one step can not be separated from the analysis and testing," said Zheng Cunjiang.

“As soon as it was assigned to the geological system, it was catching up with the implementation of the National Earth Exploration Chemistry Analysis Plan. The 'hot air' of the entire project was virtually infective and felt that the geological analysis work was meaningful.” At that time, China launched 1:200,000 The analysis of the earth’s exploration chemistry will “paint” the whole China into small squares, one sample for each grid, and the sample size will be very large. Moreover, each sample will detect 39 elements and use more than 10 analytical methods; later The state has once again carried out a 1:50,000 exploration and chemical analysis of the earth. The sample volume is larger and the number of detected elements is as many as 50 kinds. “The large sample size, complicated situation, and much interference... As well as limited testing methods at the time, some elements did not do well. This challenged us,” Zheng Cunjiang said. “Improved analysis quality and accuracy were Geological tester's purpose and responsibility."

“The greatest temptation of geological analysis is its complexity, high quality requirements, and a wide range of fields. Even if it is hard to reach its peak, it is worth our continued exploration. We will be very proud that we find problems in the analysis work and finally solve problems. And detection technology can also be used in other fields such as medicine, environmental protection, metallurgy, and agriculture. It makes us feel that our work is very meaningful and it is useful to both the country and the enterprise."

Affected by these large national plans, many analysts and test technicians like Zheng Cunjiang worked together with numerous seniors to make continuous progress in geological analysis and detection technology.

Advocate "green analysis"

Analytical chemistry is a branch of chemistry and is a discipline that analyzes the composition, composition, and structure of matter. This technique is used for any element in the sample, its toxicity, and its harm to the environment and human health. However, a large amount of acid, alkali and organic solvents are used in the analysis process. The treatment of the waste liquid not only requires cost, but also causes various hazards to the environment and human health.

Geological laboratories have hundreds of sample testing missions every day. There are more than 100,000 to 200,000 samples a year or more. Correspondingly, they will consume large amounts of acids, alkalis, and organic solvents. These are environmental and human health problems. Have a certain influence. "If we advocate environmental protection while we pollute the environment on the other side, this is contradictory in itself," said Zheng Cunjiang. "So, reducing or not using these poisonous and harmful reagents is what our generation should do."

After constant thinking, Zheng Cunjiang believes that analysis and detection technology should develop toward the direction of “green analysis”. At the beginning, Zheng Cunjiang advocated the “low-pollution analysis process”. This concept has been implemented and compared with the amount of acid used. Now, the usage of the Zheng Cunjiang laboratory is only one-tenth of the past. One year is not only saving costs. More importantly, it reduces the pollution to the environment.

For the development of analytical techniques that do not use those acids, bases, and organic solvents, Zheng Cunjiang mainly conducted solid direct injection analysis techniques. Having said this, Zheng Cunjiang talked about his cooperation with instrument company Concentration Technology. Three years ago, Zheng Cunjiang invited Concentration Technology to invite cooperation in the development of arc emission spectrometry instruments to solve the problems of sample loss, operator injury, and secondary pollution to the environment caused by complex pre-processing in geological analysis. At the beginning of this year, the cooperation results of the E5000 arc-emission direct-reading spectrometer prototype were successfully developed. For this new product, Zheng Cunjiang said, “The E5000 can analyze the three elements of Ag, B, and Sn that are difficult to decompose in geological analysis; if inert gas is added, The elements of cyanogenic interference that were originally undetectable can now be detected; further automation can be achieved to cope with the large sample size; both metal and non-metallic powder samples can be detected, and the practical application in the past six months also proves that the new instrument can meet Many needs of the geological industry."

Concern over the development of domestic instruments "We must put the analytical instrument R&D and manufacturing level at the level of representing the national science and technology level. If more than 90% of the laboratories in Chinese research units are imported instruments, where does the scientific and technological innovation start? Where does the competition from abroad come from? Talking about?” said Zheng Cunjiang excitedly. “Our industry has developed many analytical instruments, but industrialization is so rare that the geological system was later occupied by the imported instruments.”

Domestic equipment research and development must be practical, we must pay attention to the development of key devices, the core technology must be a breakthrough, Zheng Cunjiang expressed the expectations of the domestic instrument development with three "must have". "Whenever 80% of the instruments in our laboratory like ours are made locally, our domestic analytical instruments have hope."

Zheng Cunjiang’s earliest involvement in the instrument development project was to assemble and apply ICP-AES, and later engaged in laser ablation-ICP-AES research. At that time, the stability of many key components in China was insufficient. For example, the performance of RF generators was very unstable, and no domestic company could solve. In the 80s and 90s, XRF was also developed in the mining and minerals industry, but domestic X-ray tubes can only be used for 1-2 years, while imports can be used for more than 10 years. But for ICP-AES, China's first full-spectrum direct-reading ICP-AES introduced by Concentration Technology, he describes how to actually use the instrument: “For spectrum instruments, resolution, wavelength range, and other indicators are easier to achieve. , But precision and stability are the most difficult to do.After using it for a while, we discovered that the precision and stability of the ICP-5000 are doing well and can replace the imported conventional ICP-AES in China if its resolution. To further improve, you can further expand the application."

“In the past few years I was very disappointed with domestic analytical instruments. The biggest problem was that the service life and stability were not up to the requirements. Now, although there is still a long way to go, we have great hope for domestically produced instruments. "Cheng Cunjiang said," The national basic science and technology have been continuously improved, including basic industry and components. The number of countries in the development of domestic instruments has been greatly increased in recent years. Related units and people must also develop domestic instruments. The sense of mission. In this case, only need to add a fire, push, the research unit and the enterprise together to support, domestic instruments will develop rapidly."