Reliable Total Elemental Compositional Analysis of Soils for Regulatory Compliance with EPA 3052

Abstract

The elemental analysis of soils is critical for determining the composition of the soil matrix as well as the presence of elements that have the potential to leach into the groundwater below. To ensure complete digestion and compliance with regulatory standards, accurate elemental analysis of environmental samples with effective sample preparation methods is required.

The U.S. EPA Method 3051A is a commonly used sample preparation method that employs microwave-assisted acid digestion with method defined parameters to determine acidleachable elements by ICP. The U.S. EPA Method 3052 is a more rigorous method and is used to prepare samples for total compositional analysis. The primary focus of this study uses the MARSXpress 2.0™ scientific microwave system and MARSXpress™ vessels for digestion of three Certified Reference Material (CRM) soils following EPA Method 3052 with analysis by ICP-OES following EPA Method 6010B. Elemental recoveries from the EPA Method 3052 digestions are compared to the certified values for each CRM to demonstrate the accuracy of the method.