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https://hdl.handle.net/11681/11669| Title: | Microwave digestion of soils and sediments for assessing contamination by hazardous waste metals |
| Authors: | Rocky Mountain Arsenal (Colo.) U.S. Army Toxic and Hazardous Materials Agency. Hewitt, Alan D. (Alan Dole) Reynolds, Charles M. (Charles Michael), 1950- |
| Keywords: | Field method Metal analysis Sediments Hazardous metals Hazardous wastes Hazardous substances Microwave digestion Soils analysis Soils |
| Publisher: | Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (U.S.) Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.) |
| Series/Report no.: | Special report (Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (U.S.)) ; 90-19. |
| Description: | Special Report 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 Anny Toxic and Hazardous Materials Agency (USATHAMA). In addition, microwave-nitric acid digestions were perfonned 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 were within 16%, and Pb and Cr levels within 30%, of the values reported by a contract laboratory using USATHAMA digestion 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. |
| Rights: | Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/11681/11669 |
| Appears in Collections: | Special Report |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SR-90-19.pdf | 2.35 MB | Adobe PDF |  View/Open |