Microwave plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy as a tool for the determination of copper, iron, manganese and zinc in animal feed and fertilizer

Quantitative analysis of elements in agricultural products like animal feed and fertilizers by a new instrument using microwave plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (MP-AES) technology was demonstrated in this work. Hot plate and microwave digestion were used to digest the sample matrices and the consequent digests were subject to atomic absorption spectroscopy (AA), inductive coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and MP-AES analysis. The detection limit, accuracy and dynamic range for each instrument, were compared and matrix effects were evaluated with respect to the fertilizer and feed materials. The new MP-AES platform can offer comparable or better performance compared to AA and/or ICP-OES with respect to routine analysis for a regulatory program.