Determination of Mercury in Feathers using a Direct Mercury Analyzer

Page 1 of 1 Application field: Environmental Rev. 08_08

Application field: Environmental Application Note HG/EN-01 SUMMARY

Precise and rapid determination of total mercury in Feathers can be performed using Direct Mercury Analyzer. Such an instrument requires no sample wet chemistry or pretreatment. Once a weighed sample portion is introduced into the instrument, analysis is complete in five minutes. Direct analysis of mercury, using the integrated sequence of Thermal Decomposition, Catalyst Conversion, Amalgamation, and Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer, is described in EPA 7473 and is validated for laboratory as well as field analysis.

CALIBRATION To calibrate the instrument, calibration working standards are freshly prepared from bulk solution or from an NIST traceable bulk solution of 1,000 ppm (mg/Kg) Hg in 10% HCL or HNO3. Calibration working standards are obtained by quantitative transfer and dilution of aliquots from the bulk solution with 10% acid. More information in regards the calibration points are available in operator manual. EXPERIMENT

The samples were submitted by a potential customer for instrument evaluation. The feathers were introduced directly in to the metal boat. Nickel rod or chips may be used to keep the feathers in the boat

PROGRAM Sample ID Sample

Size* Max START Temperature

Drying/Ashing Time Drying/Ashing Temperature

Purge Time

Feathers

5-10 mg

200C

10 seconds 200C 60 sec 2 minutes 650C

1 minute 650C *: due to the organic content of the sample, the largest sample size should be analyzed by this instrument is 100 mg

RESULTS

Sample ID Hg Expected Hg Statistical data

Feathers 22 1 mg/kg 27 mg/kg rsd: 5.17 % CONCLUSION

The DMA-80 Mercury Analyzer successfully processed the Feather sample. Total analysis time per sample was approximately 5 minutes, including the time taken to weigh each sample into the boat. The difference in the expected and measured results were due to losing some of the sample when placing it inside of the instrument.

DMA-80 Mercury Analyzer