Determination of iodine and bromine in coal and atmospheric particles by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Bromine and iodine in atmospheric particles or coal can cause environmental problems such as destruction of ozone in the atmosphere; therefore, the presence of these compounds has recently received increased attention. Here, a rapid and reliable method for the simultaneous determination of total bromine and iodine using ICP-MS analysis is described. Samples were dissolved in mixtures of 5 mL of HNO3 and 2 mL of H2O2 in a high pressure microwave digester. The solution was then oxidized by per-sulfate (Na2S2O8) in addition to a small amount of silver nitrate, after which the total bromine and iodine were measured simultaneously by ICP-MS. The signal memory effects of bromine and iodine during analysis were effectively decreased by washing with a new mixture agent (2% alcohol acidic solution, pH 1–2 adjusted with HCl). The detection limits for bromine and iodine using this method were about 3.2 μg L−1 and 1.1 μg L−1, respectively. Additionally, the spike recoveries were between 78.7% and 121% for bromine and iodine analysis, while the relative standard deviations ranged from 4.3% to 9.7%, and from 1.5% to 3.4% for bromine and iodine, respectively. The results of this study indicate that the method described here is suitable for the analysis of micro-amounts of bromine and iodine in atmospheric particles and coal samples.