Development of an analytical approach for determination of total arsenic and arsenic (III) in airborne particulate matter by slurry sampling and HG-FAAS

Abstract

Slurry sampling (SS) with hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (HG-AAS) was used to analyze 3 particulate matter samples collected in the Bananeira Village, Brazil, in 2005. The relative standard deviation (RSD), used to assess the precision, was lower than 4.8%. The accuracy of this method was confirmed by the analysis of certified atmospheric particulate matter urban dust reference material SRM 1649a. This method (SS/HG-AAS) was used to determine total arsenic and arsenic (III) in three particulate matter samples. In these samples, the total arsenic concentrations varied from 3.8 to 20.0 ng m−3, while As (III) concentrations varied from 2.7 to 10.5 ng m−3. All samples were also analyzed using acid digestion in digest block with cold finger and detection for HG-AAS. A paired t-test demonstrated no significant difference (95% CL) between the results obtained using these two sample preparation procedures. The limit of quantification, calculated considering themass of particulate matter collected on every filter, was 0.6 ng m−3 for As total and 1.0 ng m−3 for As (III).