LAUSR

Early detection of heavy metal contaminations of soil and ground water has great importance for human health. In this study, single acid extraction methods have been tested and evaluated for the extraction of heavy metal ions for rapid and on-site soil sample preparations. Parametric studies have been performed including sample to acid volume ratio, extraction time, and acid concentration, and the performance of the proposed method has been compared with standard laboratory based protocol using soil samples spiked with target metal ions. The proposed protocol utilizing three different single acids (EDTA, HNO3, HCl) has shown the comparable extraction efficiency over ~80% for heavy metal ions of major concerns, Pb, Hg, and As. Compared to standard method based on aqua regia digestion, single acid extraction provides reduced processing steps and reagent volume, possibly enabling the on-site processing of contaminated soils and analysis.