Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

MICROWAVE DIGESTION AND ANALYSIS OF SELECTED HEAVY METALS IN THE SEDIMENTS

Jolly Jacob and S. Shetye

Abstract

The present study focuses on developing an efficient microwave digestion method for the determination of Hg, Cd, and Pb element from water or soil. For the same microwave assisted, digestion method has proposed to solubilize the samples for ICP-MS analysis. At first, sediment samples are air dried, grinded, sieved and subjected to digestion. The digests are subsequently analysed for ICP-MS analysis. Various combinations of acid treatment for microwave assisted digestion method were followed. Further, results from ICP-MS analysis of solubilized samples can be compared with Certified Reference material (CRM), Efficacy of the proposed method will be identified.