title: Determination of mercury in sewage sludges by slurry sampling electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry.
abstract: An electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometric procedure was developed for the determination of mercury in sewage sludge, in which the samples were suspended in a solution containing hydrofluoric and nitric acids. Silver nitrate (4%, m/v) and potassium permanganate (3%, m/v) were incorporated as matrix modifiers, and aliquots were directly introduced into the graphite furnace. A fast-heating program with no conventional pyrolysis step was used. The detection limit for mercury in a 50 mg/mL suspension was 0.1 microg/g. Calibration was performed by using aqueous standards. An analysis of certified reference materials confirmed the reliability of the procedure.
authors.affiliation: University of Murcia, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Spain. ilgarcia@um.es
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: López-García
authors.forename: Mateo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Merlos
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Arroyo-Cortez
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hernández-Córdoba
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D006858:Hydrofluoric Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D012015:Reference Standards; D012722:Sewage / Q000032:analysis*; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D012722:Sewage; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D008628:Mercury; D006858:Hydrofluoric Acid