Determination of mercury in sewage sludges by slurry sampling electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry.
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.
López-García
Ignacio
I
University of Murcia, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Spain. ilgarcia@um.es
Sánchez-Merlos
Mateo
M
Arroyo-Cortez
Jesús
J
Hernández-Córdoba
Manuel
M
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*
D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D012722:Sewage; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D008628:Mercury; D006858:Hydrofluoric Acid