DIRECT DETERMINATION OF MAJOR AND MINOR ELEMENTS IN TAP WATER BY ICP-MS: COMPARISON WITH FAAS AND GFAAS

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry has been employed for the direct determination of major and minor components in tap and mineral water. Mg, Ca, Na, K, Sr, Al, Cr, Ni, Mn, Ba, Cu, Zn, Fe, Si and U were determined at the mass numbers which have minimum interferences. 4.88 mL sample were mixed with 50 μl of 10 mg L-1 Rhodium solution as internal standard and 70 μl of HNO3 70 % (v/v). 50 μl of 10 mg L-1 Beryllium, Germanium, Terbium, and Rhenium solutions were also added to the samples for the instrumental calibration in the case of TotalQuant measurements. A dwell time of 50 ms was used in TotalQuant method and 250 ms in the case of Quantitative measurements. 45 samples per hour can be measured using TotalQuant mode and 60 samples per hour in the Quantitative mode for each replicate. On the other hand, major elements were determined by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry and minor elements by Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry and ICP-AES. No significative differences were observed between results obtained by both methods. The direct determination of Uranium in tap water by ICP-MS was studied and compared with results obtained by α - spectrometric measurement.