Graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometric method for direct determination of iron and zinc in solid rice samples

A method for the direct determination of iron and zinc traces in solid rice samples using graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry is proposed. Samples are placed in a graphite tube with a platform, and are determined from integrated absorbance measurements that are interpolated on calibration graphs obtained from aqueous standards of the two metals. The working conditions used allow iron and zinc to be determined at concentrations down to 10 mu g g(-1) (0.001%) in solid rice samples with a relative standard deviation of 6 - 10%.