Abstract
A method for extracting mercury from soil sequentially using HNO3 and a saturated solution of sodium sulphide (ss-Na2S) is described. Most chemical forms of mercury are soluble in HNO3, with the exception of HgS. Because HgS is soluble in Na2S solution, a sequential extraction procedure was developed to determine the distribution of HgS in soil. To determine the efficiency of this sequential extraction procedure, soil samples were spiked with either 203HgS or 203HgCl2 and extracted sequentially with HNO3 and ss-Na2S. For samples spiked with 203HgCl2, HNO3 extracted 95 and ss-Na2S 1% of the added 203HgCl2. In contrast, for soil spiked with 203HgS, HNO3 extracted 1 and ss-Na2S 98% of the added 203HgS. When this sequential extraction procedure was applied to mercury-contaminated soil, the mercury concentrations in the combined HNO3 and ss-Na2S extracts accounted for 99% of the total mercury present. Further, of the total mercury present, 74–100% was HgS as determined by the concentration of mercury in the ss-Na2S extract. These results suggest that the proposed sequential extraction procedure can selectively differentiate HgS from other species and compounds of mercury in soil.
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