Determination of Manganese Content in Soils and Sediments by X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry

OBJECTIVESDue to the advantages of simple sample preparation, non-destructive determination, and rapid detection, the X-ray fluorescence spectrometry technique has become a robust method for determination of manganese in soil or sediment. Manganese in soil and sediment standard material has the maximum content of 2490mg/kg, thus the traditional X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) can easily suffer from the drawbacks of standard curve measurement range due to the limited manganese content in standard soil or sediment samples.

OBJECTIVESTo develop a good method for the determination of manganese in polluted soil or sediment.

METHODSTo address this major concern, manganese solutions were added to the commercially available soil standards in a quantitative manner to give a series of new soil standards with higher manganese content. The content of manganese can be determined by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry.

RESULTSThe establishment of a novel standard curve by taking advantage of these new soil standards could significantly promote the upper limit of manganese measurement from 2490mg/kg to 3780mg/kg. The analytical results of manganese were consistent with the reference value and a recovery of 97.8%-108.3%. The results of high-manganese samples were consistent with the values acquired by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry, with the relative deviation less than 5.7% and the relative standard deviation lower than 0.4% (n=7).

ConclusionResults show good accuracy and precision in the determination of high-manganese soils and sediments.