Digestion of plastic materials for the determination of toxic metals with a microwave oven for household use.
A rapid sample-digestion method for the determination of toxic metals, cadmium, chromium, and lead, in polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride has been developed by using a microwave oven for household use. An appropriate amount of the sample taken in a PTFE decomposition vessel was mixed with nitric acid or nitric and sulfuric acids. The vessel was heated in a microwave oven by a predetermined operating program. The digested sample was diluted to a definite volume with water after evaporating most of the nitric acid. The precipitate, if formed, was filtered off by a membrane filter. The metals were determined by ICP-AES. The sample digestion required 5 min (for 20-mg sample) to 25 min (for 60-mg sample). The analytical results obtained for cadmium, chromium, and lead in a polyethylene certified reference material, BCR-680, digested with nitric acid, were in good agreement with the certified values.
Sakurai
Hiroki
H
Department of Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan.
Noro
Junji
J
Kawase
Akira
A
Fujinami
Masanori
M
Oguma
Koichi
K
D002104:Cadmium / Q000737:chemistry; D002623:Chemistry Techniques, Analytical / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D002857:Chromium / Q000737:chemistry; D008872:Microwaves; D017942:Nitric Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D010969:Plastics / Q000737:chemistry*; D020959:Polyethylene / Q000737:chemistry; D011095:Polyethylenes / Q000737:chemistry; D013464:Sulfuric Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D014131:Trace Elements; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry; D014965:X-Rays
D010969:Plastics; D011095:Polyethylenes; D013464:Sulfuric Acids; D014131:Trace Elements; D002104:Cadmium; D014867:Water; D002857:Chromium; D017942:Nitric Acid; D020959:Polyethylene; C033158:sulfuric acid