Simple method for emission spectrographic determination of trace elements in airborne particulates

• Published in: BUNSEKI KAGAKU Vol. 25; no. 8; pp. 549 - 551
• Main Authors: IMAI, Sakingo, FURUYA, Shiro, KUSAKA, Yuzuru, TSUJI, Haruo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese; English
• Published: Tokyo The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry 1976; Japan Science and Technology Agency
• Subjects: Airborne particulates; Emission spectrographic determination; Trace elements
• ISSN: 0525-1931
• DOI: 10.2116/bunsekikagaku.25.549

By using commercially available reagents for standard and buffer agent, the analytical method for airborne particulates collected on membrane filter, which was previously reported in this journal 22, 551(1973), was improved to a simple and rapid one. The decolorized ash of the sample obtained by ignition in a plasma asher was mixed with 50 mg of indium oxide as a buffer agent, which was selected from the basis of the results of the I-T experiments as shown in Fig. 1. The standard series were prepared by diluting the Spex Mix No. 1000, containing 49 elements of each 1.27%, with indium oxide to give a concentration of 1.00% to 0.2 ppm for each element. Then, the analytical and the standard series samples were mixed with equal amounts of graphite powder containing 50 ppm palladium as an internal standard.These samples were subjected to the AC are excitation in a similar way to the previous report. The use of a cup-typed graphite electrode with a sample hole of 3 mm×3 mm depth and the application of the following lines in the calibration curve were newly introduced: Ga; 2874.2Å, Sn; 2840.4Å, Mn; 2794.8Å, Fe; 2585.9Å, Al; 2568.OÅ. Linear relationships were obtained in the following concentration ranges : Al; (5001000) ppm, Fe; (200500) ppm, Ti and Ga; (50500) ppm, Ni and Cr; (101000) ppm, Pb; (10200) ppm, Cu; (55000) ppm, Mn; (5100) ppm, V; (1500) ppm, Mo; (2500) ppm, and Ag; (0.250) ppm. The analytical results and the precision for the 14 elements in a dust sample are shown in Table 1. With this method, it was possible to treat 30 airborne particulate samples within 6 days. The application of this method for the Kobe area samples was reported in Journal of Japan Society of Air Pollution, 9, 742 (1975).