Determination of Mercury, Arsenic and Selenium in Soils by One-time Digestion

A method for the determination of three volatile elements (mercury, arsenic and selenium) in soils by one. time digestion was established. The digestion of samples was carried out in an automatic program temperature controlled graphite digestion instrument by aqua regia + hydrofluoric acid+boric acid. Hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS) was used to determine the contents of mercury, arsenic and selenium in the same digestion solution. The accuracy of the method was verified by the results of the soil environment samples of certified reference materials GSS-1 -GSS-8 from the Center of the National Standard. The contents of soil mercury, arsenic and selenium obtained by this method were consistent with the standard values of these elements provided by the Center of the National Standard. In comparison with the current standard methods, the one. time digestion method was simplified, the pre-processing time was saved, and the reagent consumption was reduced. The method had wide range of application, high sensitivity, low detection limit, which was especially suitable for trace analysis of bulk samples, and also it could be used as a rapid digestion method for the measurement and governance of heavy metals in polluted soils.