Characterization of reference contaminated soil using nitrogen-based MICAP-MS
Source: BAM
Soil pollution by heavy metals has become an environmental threat due to the fast industrial growth and the application of metal-containing compounds. According to the German Federal Soil Protection and Contaminated Site Ordinance (BBodSchV), 14 heavy metals in the soil have been classified as heavily toxic elements, which can influence food chain safety and affect human health. The adequate protection and restoration of soil requires the extensive characterization and remediation of the heavy metals. Thus, elemental analysis and precise quantification of the heavy metals in soil are essential. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP–MS) is an effective technique for the trace analysis of soil owing to its multielement capability, high sensitivity, and low sample consumption. However, despite its success and widespread usage, ICP–MS has several consistent drawbacks, such as high argon (Ar) gas consumption. Ar as noble gas is relatively expensive, which increases operating costs of ICP-MS. Moreover, sample components that appear at the same mass as Ar or Ar-compounds cannot be easily characterized using ICP-MS, which complicates the analysis of elements like calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), and arsenic (As).
Therefore, Zengchao You and his colleagues propose nitrogen microwave inductively coupled atmospheric-pressure plasma mass spectrometry (MICAP-MS) as a reliable alternative to ICP–MS for soil analysis, where Ar plasma gas is replaced by nitrogen (N2) gas. The technique showed results comparable to those obtained with ICP–MS. The sensitivity of both techniques using N2 and Ar plasma were of the same order of magnitude. A remarkable advantage of MICAP–MS is the low operating costs associated with gas consumption since N2 is cheaper than Ar, and calculated from the gas flow rates used in this work MICAP–MS consumes 25% less gas than ICP–MS, which make it more cost effective than ICP–MS.
Multielement analysis in soils using nitrogen microwave inductively coupled atmospheric-pressure plasma mass spectrometry
Zengchao You, Aslı Akkuş, Wolfram Weisheit, Thorsten Giray, Sibylle Penk, Sabine Buttler, Sebastian Recknagel, Carlos Abad
Published in Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, Vol. 37, issue 12, pages 2556-2562, 2022.
BAM, department Analytical Chemistry; Reference Materials, division Inorganic Reference Materials