Methods of analysis by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Laboratory-Comparison of a nitric acid in-bottle digestion procedure to other whole-water digestion procedures

John R. Garbarino; Gerald L. Hoffman

doi:10.3133/ofr9994

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Methods of analysis by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Laboratory-Comparison of a nitric acid in-bottle digestion procedure to other whole-water digestion procedures

John R. Garbarino·Gerald L. Hoffman

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Abstract

A hydrochloric acid in-bottle digestion procedure is used to partially digest wholewater samples prior to determining recoverable elements by various analytical methods. The use of hydrochloric acid is problematic for some methods of analysis because of spectral interference. The inbottle digestion procedure has been modified to eliminate such interference by using nitric acid instead of hydrochloric acid in the digestion. Implications of this modification are evaluated by comparing results for a series of synthetic whole-water samples. Results are also compared with those obtained by using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1994) (USEPA) Method 200.2 total-recoverable digestion procedure. Percentage yields that use the nitric acid inbottle digestion procedure are within 10 percent of the hydrochloric acid in-bottle yields for 25 of the 26 elements determined in two of the three synthetic whole-water samples tested. Differences in percentage yields for the third synthetic whole-water sample were greater than 10 percent for 16 of the 26 elements determined. The USEPA method was the most rigorous for solubilizing elements from particulate matter in all three synthetic whole-water samples. Nevertheless, the variability in the percentage yield by using the USEPA digestion procedure was generally greater than the in-bottle digestion procedure, presumably because of the difficulty in controlling the digestion conditions accurately.

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John R. Garbarino, Gerald L. Hoffman. 1999. Methods of analysis by the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Laboratory-Comparison of a nitric acid in-bottle digestion procedure to other whole-water digestion procedures. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr9994

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