A Microwave Digestion Method for Total Decomposition of Lead and Other Metals in Paint, Soil and Dust

Abstract

A simple, total decomposition method for lead and other metals in paint has been developed. Complete decomposition is achieved through a combination of reagents over several digestive steps in a microwave oven. Results of analysis of several NIST paint SRMs show excellent recoveries ranging from 85.5 to 111%. Additionally, recoveries of a number of trace elements for two soil and one dust NIST SRM were also excellent.

State-of-the-Art and Trends in Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

“…Besides reducing the time of decomposition, it avoids contaminating the sample with maximal efficiency of solubilization (Kingston & Jassie, 1988). The microwave has been widely used in the solubilization of samples with high organic content (Binstock, 2000;Costa et al, 2001;Pouzar et al, 2001;Wasilewsk et al, 2002). Some kinds of inorganic samples take much time to be solubilized via wet digestion methods, even using closed systems in microwaves-assisted.…”