Evaluation of various mineralization methods and measurement techniques for trace element analysis of plant materials

Abstract

Three decomposition methods (pressurised microwave digestion, classical dry ashing and dry ashing in a mixture of oxidising gases) for predominantly plant samples, and three measurement techniques (ICP-MS, FAAS, ETAAS) for the determination of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn were compared. As confirmed by the statistical evaluation, no significant differences between analytical methods were found.