Abstract

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the accuracy and precision of airborne metal analysis using polyvinyl chloride(PVC) membrane filter by pretreatment methods. Methods: A total of 75 spiked PVC samples for Cr, Fe and Mn ranged from 6 ug/sample to 40 ug/sample were used to evaluate recovery rates for three pretreatment methods: acid extraction, hot plate ashing and microwave digestion. For Mn, an additional 75 spiked mixed cellulose ester(MCE) membrane filters were analysed to compare the recovery rates of PVC samples. All samples were analysed with an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer(ICP-OES) and manganese samples were additionally analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometer(AAS). Results: The overall mean recovery rates of PVC samples for Cr, Fe and Mn were 90% or higher regardless of pretreatment methods, but there were statistically significant differences in recovery rates for Cr(p<0.05) and Mn(p<0.01) samples by pretreatment methods. The biases and the coefficient variations of PVC samples for three metals pretreated with three kinds of pretreatment methods ranged from 1.7% to 4.7% and from 1.6% to 6.5%, respectively. The manganese PVC samples pretreated by microwave digestion and analyzed with ICP-OES had the lowest bias at 1.9% and also showed lower bias than the bias for MCE samples, 2.7%. Conclusions: In order to accurately analyze the metals sampled with PVC membrane filters, microwave digestion and ICP-OES can be recommended.

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