Microwave vacuum drying of marine sediment: determination of moisture content, metals and total carbon

No significant difference was found in the moisture content of marine sediment determined by using traditional oven drying at 105 °C and microwave-drying under vacuum. Subsequent determinations of the major and trace metals, Al, Ca, Fe, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn, gave similar results after employing the different drying procedures. The total carbon contents were also investigated and again no significant difference was found. Vacuum microwave drying requires only 10 min of time compared to more than 8 h for oven-drying. Contamination of samples is also minimized when microwave digestion is adopted in the same system for the subsequent analysis of metal contents.