This thesis carefully investigates some of the limitations of existing methods for atomic spectroscopic determination of mercury, selenium and arsenic in biological and environmental materials. In particular the need for adequate sample preparation to ensure reliable atomic spectroscopic determination of these metalloids was demonstrated extensively. The thesis evaluates four most commonly used wet digestion methods for the accurate determination of mercury in biological and environmental materials by cold vapour atomic absorption spectroscopy. Excellent recovery efficiencies were obtained with this digestion mixture in fish homogenate, horse kidney, soil, canned fish and hair samples for inorganic and organic mercury. The suitability of the digestion method for the reliable determination of mercury in soil, hair and canned fish samples was also demonstrated. Mercury levels in these samples were found within normal acceptable range. The thesis outlines a new simple procedure for overcoming the loss of mercury due to sample charring. It also described a new sample ultrasound low temperature wet digestion method for biological and environmental materials. The main advantage of this approach over other conventional methods is its ability to release all mercury in inorganic form from biological and environmental samples at much lower temperatures than reported earlier / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/235285 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Dhinsa, Harkirat S., University of Western Sydney, School of Civic Engineering and Environment |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Source | THESIS_XXXX_CEE_Dhinsa_H.xml |
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