An automated on-line minicolumn preconcentration cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometer: application to determination of cadmium in water samples.

A method was developed for on-line solid phase preconcentration and cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometric determination of Cd(II) in aqueous samples. Lewatit Monoplus TP207 iminodiacetate chelating resin was used for the separation and preconcentration of Cd(II) ions at pH 4.0. The whole system was labmade. The influence of analytical parameters such as concentration of eluent and sodium tetrahydroborate solution, flow rate of eluent, sample, and Ar, and matrix ions were investigated. A preconcentration factor of 20 and a detection limit (3s(b)) of 2.1ngL(-1), along with a sampling frequency of 28h(-1) were achieved with 1.4min of sample loading time and with 2.8mL sample consumption. The relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) was 2.5% for 0.05μgL(-1) Cd(II) level. The developed method was used for Cd(II) analysis in water samples. The certified reference material (LGC6019) experimental results are in good agreement with the certified value.