ISTC has over a decade of experience in metals analytical laboratory techniques, often developing new methods to differentiate metal species.
ISTC metals analysis refers to metals, metalloids, and a few non-metals that make up about 85% of the periodic table and include eight U.S. EPA-regulated hazardous materials under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA): arsenic (As), barium (Ba), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), selenium (Se), and silver (Ag) (Figure 1).
Sample preparation includes standard U.S. EPA methods based on the matrix using microwave digestion and acidification (typically 2% nitric acid). For analysis, ISTC researchers use either Varian SpectrAA 55B atomic absorption spectrometer (AA) (Figure 2A) for high concentration samples or a Thermo Elemental PQ ExCell inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) with a liquid chromatography interface for speciation (Figure 2B) for low concentration samples.
