Slurry-sampling with rapid atomization versus microwave digestion with conventional atomization for the determination of copper, manganese and nickel in algae matrix using transverse heated-electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry Original Research A

Slurry-sampling with rapid atomization and an open focused microwave digestion using conventional atomization are compared for the determination of Cu, Mn and Ni in an algae matrix. Transverse heated-electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry with a longitudinal magnetic field was used for the analysis. No significant difference between the results obtained by both these methods was observed, when the student’s t-test was applied at the 95% confidence level. The limits of detection obtained by rapid slurry atomization are 1.4, 1.5, 1.3 ng/ml while those of the microwave digestion are 8.0, 3.6 and 6.5 ng/ml for Cu, Mn, and Ni, respectively. The process blank in slurry rapid atomization is two times lower for Mn and six times lower for Cu and Ni as compared to open microwave digestion.