GRAPHITE-FURNACE ATOMIC-ABSORPTION DETERMINATION OF CU, MN, AND NI INCOAL AFTER SAMPLE DISSOLUTION BY ALKALINE FUSION

Certified coal standards were brought into solution by alkaline fusion in platinum crucibles using lithium metaborate as a flux and nitric a cid treatment for dissolution of the fused material. The solutions thu s obtained were analyzed by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectro metry (GFAAS) to determine their Cu, Mn, and Ni content. The results s howed good agreement with the standard certified values. Precision of the measurements, 3 sigma relative standard deviation, ranged from 0.6 7 to 5.8 for Cu, 2.97 to 5.03 for Mn, and 3.24 to 12.92 for Ni. Charac teristic masses, in picograms, for 20 mu L of a 25-mu g/L aqueous solu tion of each analyte, were 23+/-1, 15.1+/-0.5, and 7.1+/-0.3 for Cu, M n, and Ni, respectively.