Determination of lead and cadmium in water samples by cloud point extraction prior to flame atomic absorption spectrometry determination

Pb and Cd in water samples were determined by cloud point extraction (CPE) with sodium diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC) as the chelating agent and octylphenoxypolyethanl (Triton X-114) as the surfactant prior to flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) determination. The main factors of affecting the extraction and detection processes were optimized. The preconcentration of 10 mL of standard solutions gave enhancement factors of 35 and 75 and the detection limits of 9.41 and 0.40 ng mL-1 for Pb and Cd, respectively. The proposed method was applied satisfactorily to the determination of Pb and Cd in seawater and lake water. Good agreement was obtained between the added and measured analyte amounts through the recovery of experiments.