Determination of Molybdenum in Environmental Samples of Diverse Matrices by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

A highly sensitive and accurate flame atomic absorption spectrometric method is presented for determination of trace amounts of molybdenum present in the samples of diverse matrices such as soil, power plant slag and other industrial solid residues and effluents. The samples were collected from ten different sites of the industrial town Panipat and the twin industrial cities ? Yamuna Nagar and Jagadhri situated in Haryana. The solid samples were digested by wet method using aqua-regia to get clear solutions. Molybdenum was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometer at 313.3 nm using acetylene-nitrous oxide flame. The recovery and the accuracy of the procedure were validated by standard addition method. Known amounts of molybdenum were added to the solid samples and to the blanks. The overall effect of contamination was eliminated by subtracting the values obtained for blanks. The recovery of molybdenum from solid samples was found to be more than 92% with a concentration of molybdenum in the range of 0.17 ? 0.27 ?g/g for soils, 8.21 ? 29.2 ?g/g for power plant slag and 14.6 ? 7755 ?g/g for industrial solid residues. The standard deviation for ten replicate determinations of 100 ng Mo/ml was found to be less than 8%. The proposed method can also be used for determination of molybdenum in different solid samples such as ores, coals, rocks, fly ashes, plants, industrial residues and others such as the industrial effluents.