Application of chemometric techniques to optimize the determination of Sb in soil samples by ultrasonic slurry-ETAAS

Several chemometric techniques were applied to help in the optimization of a new analytical method to directly determine Sb in soils by means of ultra sonic slurry sampling-electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (USS-ET AAS). These techniques were intended not only to optimize the slurry prepar ation but also to diminish the amount of work to be done. The chemometric t echniques and their objectives were: (1) Plackett-Burman designs to assess the influence of six analytical variables, (2) optimization of the analytic al variables, (3) 2-way ANOVA to investigate the influence of sample cups a nd replicates, (4) control charts to monitor the graphite tube performance.