MULTIELEMENT ANALYSIS OF SUSPENDED PARTICULATES COLLECTED WITH A BETA-GAUGE MONITORING-SYSTEM BY ICP ATOMIC-EMISSION SPECTROMETRY AND MASS-SPECTROMETRY

This work presents a two-step HNO3+HClO4/HF(1:2:1, v/v) acid mixture m icrowave digestion method for determining the elemental concentrations in suspended particulates collected on glass fiber filters by a beta- gauge monitoring system. Eighteen elements (Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu , Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, S, Sb, V and Zn) were determined using in ductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and ma ss spectrometry (ICP-MS). The interference from the glass fiber filter s and the variations of the detection limits of the major elements wit h total suspended particulates (TSP) were thoroughly examined. Accordi ng to these results, the concentrations of most of the elements in sus pended particulates can be determined via the proposed method. On the other hand, determining Na is relatively difficult owing to significan t interference from glass fiber filters of the beta-gauge monitoring s ystem. In addition, real samples collected from an air-pollution episo de in Taiwan during the spring of 1995 were analyzed, in which the pro posed method's effectiveness was confirmed. The analysis results also indicate that ''Kosa'' aerosols, having originated in China, might hav e been the culprit of that episode.