Determination of Cu, Zn, Mn & Fe Metals in Soil Employing the EDXRF & FAAS Techniques and Comparative Study of Results

Two analytical spectroscopic techniques viz. EDXRF and FAAS were employed in analyzing the four heavy metals i.e. Cu, Zn, Mn and Fe in 24 soil samples. The heavy metals in understudy soil were found to have very low to high concentration range and so both techniques were compared for a broader range of concentrations. Two methods, open vessel digestion and microwave oven digestion, were used to prepare the liquid samples for FAAS analysis. The results of both of the EDXRF and FAAS techniques were found comparable when high concentration element Fe was determined. However, for the low concentration values, the results were dissimilar. Some statistical methods like regression and Levene's test are used to compare the results of both the techniques.