On the microwave digestion of soils and sediments for determination of lanthanides and some toxic and essential elements by inductively coupled plasma source mass spectrometry

Four digestion procedures for microwave dissolution of soils and sediments are investigated. Accurate results (accuracy better than 10%) for lanthanides, Be, Bi, Te, Th, U and Y are obtained only after an overnight stay with a mixture of 2 mi 48% HF and 2 mi 65% HNO3 and afterwards stepwise microwave digestion with 1 mi 48% HF and 10 mi 5% H3BO3. Only As is not be to be determined by this procedure due to significant interferences from Eu, Nd and Sm. For all other elements, accurate results are obtained by all four procedures. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.