Determination of lead in dialysis concentrates using flow injection hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry

Flow injection hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (FI-HGAAS) was used for determination of lead in dialysis concentrates. The parameters such as acidity, concentration of oxidising and reducing agents and argon gas flow rate were investigated to reach the best peak height sensitivity. No significant background signal was observed at high salt concentrations. The detection limit, concentration giving a signal equal to three times standard deviation of the blank signal, was 0.7 ng ml−1 for a 500 μl injection volume. Precision of the measurements at the 20 ng ml−1 level was 3.7% R.S.D. The dialysis concentrates analysed by FI-HGAAS were found to have 10–70 ng ml−1 of lead. The same samples were analysed by ETAAS after removing the matrix using solid phase extraction with Chelex 100. The results were in agreement with those obtained by FI-HGAAS.