Fine‐grained (<63 μm) suspended sediment is an important vector for transporting contaminants in aquatic systems. Characterization of physical and biogeochemical properties of suspended sediment usually requires bulk samples to assess its quality and to determine its source. Low‐flow rate (~2 to 4 L min⁻¹) continuous‐flow centrifugation (CFC) systems may need a time period from several hours to one day to collect such samples, and thus, due to their low inflow rate, limits application of these devices. A field study was conducted in three different freshwater systems in Manitoba, Canada to examine and compare the performance of two high‐flow rate systems as alternative approaches: the M512 continuous‐flow centrifuge (M512); and continuous filtration using PENTEK 1 μm filtration bags (filtration system). It was determined that the mass collection efficiency (MCE) for the M512 (in absolute terms) was similar to low‐flow rate CFC systems. As with low‐flow rate CFC systems, the M512 preferentially collected particles of a certain size range (i.e., in the case of M512, particles ≥ 0.83 μm) and accordingly this may affect the collection of a truly geochemically and physically representative sample in waters containing a high proportion of finer particles (≤1 μm). Several filtration systems in series improved its MCE performance and, in terms of total collected mass, this configuration appears to be as efficient as the low‐flow rate CFC systems in an equivalent sampling time. The results of this study confirmed that, in nearly all cases, the filtration system collected a representative sample of ambient suspended sediment, in terms of particle size composition, and geochemical and colour properties. In practice, it is suggested that the filtration systems in series have advantages over M512 as the filtration system is more portable and cost‐effective with a lower power demand.

中文翻译：

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高流速连续流离心过滤装置用于采样和浓缩细颗粒悬浮沉淀物的评估

细颗粒（<63μm）的悬浮沉积物是在水生系统中运输污染物的重要载体。悬浮沉积物的物理和生物地球化学性质的表征通常需要大量样品来评估其质量并确定其来源。低流量（〜2至4 L min ^-1）连续流离心（CFC）系统可能需要几个小时到一天的时间来收集此类样品，因此，由于它们的低流速，限制了这些设备的应用。在加拿大曼尼托巴省的三个不同的淡水系统中进行了现场研究，以检查和比较两种高流速系统作为替代方法的性能：M512连续流离心机（M512）；并使用PENTEK 1μm过滤袋（过滤系统）进行连续过滤。确定M512的质量收集效率（MCE）（绝对值）类似于低流量CFC系统。与低流量CFC系统一样，M512优先收集一定尺寸范围的颗粒（即，对于M512，颗粒≥0。83μm），因此，这可能会影响到包含大量细颗粒（≤1μm）的水中真正具有地球化学和物理代表性的样品的收集。几个串联的过滤系统改善了其MCE性能，就总收集质量而言，这种配置在等效采样时间内似乎与低流量CFC系统一样有效。这项研究的结果证实，在几乎所有情况下，过滤系统都从颗粒大小组成，地球化学和颜色特性方面收集了代表性的环境悬浮沉积物样品。在实践中，建议串联的过滤系统比M512更具优势，因为该过滤系统更轻便，更具成本效益且功耗更低。