Online preconcentration/determination of cadmium using grape bagasse in a flow system coupled to thermospray flame furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

Thermospray flame furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (TS-FF-AAS) was employed for Cd(II) determination after online preconcentration. In this system, Cd(II) ions were adsorbed onto a minicolumn packed with grape bagasse. The elution of the metal ions was made with 1 mol L-1 HCl. Various parameters, such as pH, eluent type, concentration, volume, flow rate for preconcentration, and effect of interfering ions on the retention of the metal ions have been studied. The optimum pH for the adsorption was 3.0. The enrichment factor was 33.7. The limits of detection and quantification for Cd(II) were 0.03 and 0.11 mu g L-1, respectively. The repetitivity and precision were 5.0 ( 5 minicolumns) and 4.6% (n = 18). The stability of the minicolumns was evaluated from successive preconcentration/elution cycles ( 80 cycles, RSD 3.9%). The proposed method was applied for cadmium determination from certified reference materials, and good agreement was obtained at the 95% confidence level.