Determination of Sulfate in Surface Water and Underground Water by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry

A method for direct determination of SO2-4 in acidized surface water and underground water by inductively conpled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) was described. The detection limit of the method for SO2-4 was 0.3 mg/L with dynamic linear range of 0.03～100 mg/L for 182.0 nm determination line and 100～700 mg/L for 182.6 nm line. The analytical precision for the actual samples was 0.76%RSD(n=12). The method has been applied to the determination of SO2-4 in standard reference water samples with satisfactory results.