Microwave Digestion of Soils and Sediments for Assessing Contamination by Hazardous Waste Metals
Abstract
This report compares results obtained for the metals extracted with a microwave-nitric acid digestion technique to results obtained by procedure R9, a soil-sediment hot-plate digestion method certified by the United States Army Toxic and Hazardous Materials Agency (USATHAMA). In addition, microwave-nitric acid digestions were performed on a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) environmental reference river sediment standard SRM-2704. Compared to existing protocols using hot-plate digestions, the microwave-heated- acid extraction of metals from soils and sediments is faster, more easily field implemented, and less subject to technician error. For Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) standard soil, the average relative recoveries of Ba, Cu, Hg, Ni and Zn contained in the microwave-HNO3 digest procedure R9. Moreover, average recoveries of analytes spiked onto the RMA standard soil were greater than 90% for Ag, Ba CD, Cu, Cr, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, Tl and Zn. In addition, average recoveries greater than 94% of NIST certified values were obtained for AS, Cd, Cu, Pb, Tl and Zn from the standard reference material SRM-2704, Buffalo River sediment. This microwave digestion procedure appears to be suitable for the extraction of both volatile and nonvolatile metals from hazardous-waste- contaminated soils and sediments.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA226367
Entities
People
- Alan D. Hewitt
- Charles M. Reynolds
Organizations
- Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory