Determination of lead in sea-water by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry combined with chelating resin preconcentration and hydride generation

Abstract

A combination of hydride generation with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) after sample preconcentration using Chelex-100 resin was successfully applied to the determination of Pb in open sea-water where the concentration found ranged between 40 and 50 ng l–1 and coastal sea water where the lead concentration was higher. The detection limit of the proposed method was 6 ng l–1, which was about 100 times better than the methods using preconcentration such as solvent extraction or ion exchange, followed by ICP-AES with direct nebulization of the solution. The method was checked with a reference material (Near-shore Seawater, CASS-1, National Research Council of Canada) and the result was in good agreement with the certified value.