Wet Acids Digestion/ICP-AES for the Determination of Boron in Environmental Samples

Abstract

A precise and simple method was examined for the determination of boron in environmental samples. The sample was digested with HF/HNO₃/HClO₄/H₃PO₄, then boron was determined by ICP/AES. The addition of phosphoric acid proved to be effective to prevent any volatilization loss of boron during digestion of sample and evaporation of the resulting solution.
Analytical results of ten standard reference materials showed good agreement with the provisional values or literature values. The precision for the determination of boron (relative standard deviation at 3 determinations) was 1.0-4.2% when LKSD-1-4 were analyzed. Sediments, rock, coal fly ash and soil values determined using the proposed digestion method were comparable to those obtained using conventional sodium carbonate fusion method.
The concentration in river, lake and marine sediments in Kanagawa prefecture were detected in the range from 4.09-44.2μg/g (average 21.3μg/g) .