A NEW METHOD FOR STANDARDLESS ANALYSIS IN ETA-AAS APPLIED TO THE DETERMINATION OF LEAD ASSOCIATED WITH AIR AEROSOL

The analysis of Pb associated with air aerosols by its accumulation th rough electrostatic precipitation directly in a graphite tube, which i s subsequently, used as an atomizer in electro thermal atomization-ato mic absorption spectroscopy (ETA-AAS), has already been tested and fou nd very convenient for its simplicity and speed. However, its use as a practical and useful method of analysis was hampered by the necessity of a laborious and difficult calibration with high risks of systemati c errors. These difficulties can be bypassed by resorting to an absolu te or standardless method of analysis. Standardless methods of analysi s have been proposed for ETA-AAS measurements and recently applied to Cd and Hg. With the use of a new and more powerful power supply this m ethod has been extended to Pb so that a very easy, fast, and almost on Line way of measuring the level of Pb in air aerosols is possible. Th e system presented in this paper is manually operated but its automati on, in order to obtain an automatic control station, is only a matter of convenience. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.