Suitable extraction of soils and sediments for mercury species and determination combined with the cold vapor generation atomic absorption spectrometry technique

• Published in: Microchemical journal 2016-01, Vol.124, p.326-330
• Main Authors: Almeida, Ione L.S., Oliveira, Mônica D.R., Silva, José B.B., Coelho, Nívia M.M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alkaline extraction; Mercury speciation; Soils and sediments
• ISSN: 0026-265X; 1095-9149
• DOI: 10.1016/j.microc.2015.09.007

This work reports a fast and efficient procedure for mercury species extraction using Universol® as extractor reagent in soil and sediment samples combined with the cold vapor generation atomic absorption spectrometry (CV AAS) technique. Hg total was determined after oxidation CH3Hg+ to Hg2+ with KMnO4 and reduction Hg2+ to Hg0 with NaBH4. To ensure specificity and sensitivity in the Hg2+ determination, L-cysteine was added before the reduction with SnCl2 to form complex with organic mercury species. Recovery values of between 98 and 102% were obtained for Hgtotal, and 96–100% for Hg2+. The relative standard deviations were lower than 2.7%. The detection limits were 0.07 and 0.08mgkg−1 for Hgtotal and Hg2+, respectively. The use of Universol® reagent combined with the CV AAS technique proved to be a simple and efficient procedure for the determination of Hgtotal and Hg2+ in soil and sediment samples without interconversion of species allowing chemical speciation studies. •Suitable extraction of Hg species in soils and sediments•Universol® reagent allows Hg speciation.•The method provided lower detection limit for Hg species.•Recovery values higher than 96% and lower generation of waste