Comparative study of hotplate wet digestion methods for the determination of mercury in biosolids

Abstract

The re-use of biosolids is becoming increasingly popular for land applications. However, biosolids may contain elevated levels of metals and metalloids (including mercury) relative to background environmental concentrations. Consequently, reliable mercury analysis is important to allow classification of biosolids and to determine appropriate options for beneficial uses. This paper reports on a comparative study of 12 hotplate wet digestion methods for their suitability for the determination of mercury in biosolids. The methods were applied to mercury biosolids samples from four localities of two different sewage treatment plants in the State of Victoria, Australia. Samples were also spiked w..