Heavy metals and rare earth elements in phosphate fertilizer components using instrumental neutron activation analysis

The technique of instrumental neutron activation analysis was applied as a sensitive nondestructive analytical tool for the determination of heavy metals and rare earth elements in phosphate fertilizer ingredients. The contents of heavy metals Fe, Zn, Co, Cr and Sc as well as rare earth elements La, Ce, Hf, Eu, Yb and Sm were determined in four samples representing the phosphate fertilizer components (e.g. rock phosphate, limestone and sulfur). These samples were collected from the Abu-Zabal phosphate factory in El-Qalubia governarate, Egypt. The aim of this study was to determine the elemental pattern in phosphate ingredients as well as in the produced phosphate fertilizer. Fair agreement was found between the results obtained for the standard reference material Soil-7 and the certified values reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The results for the input raw materials (rock phosphate, limestone and sulfur) and the output product as final fertilizer are presented and discussed.