Development of novel and sensitive methods for the determination of sulfide in aqueous samples by hydrogen sulfide generation-inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy.

Two new, simple and accurate methods for the determination of sulfide (S(2-)) at low levels (microgL(-1)) in aqueous samples were developed. The generation of hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) took place in a coil where sulfide reacted with hydrochloric acid. The resulting H(2)S was then introduced as a vapor into an inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) and sulfur emission intensity was measured at 180.669nm. In comparison to when aqueous sulfide was introduced, the introduction of sulfur as H(2)S enhanced the sulfur signal emission. By setting a gas separator at the end of the reaction coil, reduced sulfur species in the form of H(2)S were removed from the water matrix, thus, interferences could be avoided. Alternatively, the gas separator was replaced by a nebulizer/spray chamber combination to introduce the sample matrix and reagents into the plasma. This methodology allowed the determination of both sulfide and sulfate in aqueous samples. For both methods the linear response was found to range from 5microgL(-1) to 25mgL(-1) of sulfide. Detection limits of 5microgL(-1) and 6microgL(-1) were obtained with and without the gas separator, respectively. These new methods were evaluated by comparison to the standard potentiometric method and were successfully applied to the analysis of reduced sulfur species in environmental waters.