Mercury determination in non- and biodegradable materials by cold vapor capacitively coupled plasma microtorch atomic emission spectrometry

Highlights: → Use of a miniaturized analytical system with microtorch plasma for Hg determination. → Determination of Hg in non- and biodegradable materials using cold vapor generation. → Figures of merit and advantages of the miniaturized system for Hg determination. - Abstract: A new analytical system consisting of a low power capacitively coupled plasma microtorch (20 W, 13.56 MHz, 150 ml min-1 Ar) and a microspectrometer was investigated for the Hg determination in non- and biodegradable materials by cold-vapor generation, using SnCl2 reductant, and atomic emission spectrometry. The investigated miniaturized system was used for Hg determination in recyclable plastics from electronic equipments and biodegradable materials (shopping bags of 98% biodegradable polyethylene and corn starch) with the advantages of easy operation and low analysis costs. Samples were mineralized in HNO3-H2SO4 mixture in a high-pressure microwave system. The detection limits of 0.05 ng ml-1 or 0.08 μg g-1 in solid sample were compared with those reported for other analytical systems. The method precision was 1.5-9.4% for Hg levels of 1.37-13.9 mg kg-1, while recovery in two polyethylene certified reference materials in the range 98.7 ± 4.5% (95% confidence level).