FI-HG-ICP OES Determination of As, Bi, Sb and Se in airborne particulate matter from urban and industrial areas

MARIANELA SAVIO; PABLO H. PACHECO; RAÚL A. GIL; LUIS D. MARTINEZ; DARIA GOMEZ; PATRICIA SMICHOWSKI

Fort Myers, Florida

Conferencia; Winter conference on plasma espectrochemistry; 2010

A study was undertaken to assess the level of selected trace elements namely, As, Bi, Sb and Se in airborne particulate matter collected on ash-free glass-fibre filters from urban and industrial areas of Argentina. For sample digestion, a simple acid treatment with HCl + HF is proposed aimed to minimize contamination and reduce sample treatment steps. A flow injection-hydride generation system in combination with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry was used. While, Se and Bi could be determined directly from the digest, As and Sb needed a pre-reduction with KI, and H3BO3 to avoid the interference of F- ions in the hydride generation process. Limits of detection (3S) of 0.3 ng m-3 for As; 0.09 ng m-3 for Bi, and 0.1 ng m-3 for Sb and Se were achieved. Precision resulted in all better than 6.1 % for all the elements determined. Accuracy test was assessed by means of the certified reference material, NIST 1648 (urban particulate matter).