Determination of cadmium in slurries of marine sediment samples by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry using palladium and phosphate as chemical modifiers

A method for the determination of cadmium in slurries of marine sediment using palladium and phosphate as chemical modifier has been optimized. To stabilize the marine sediment slurry, Triton X-100 at 0.1% was used. To obtain a complete pyrolysis of the slurry sample two mineralization steps were used, the first at 480 degrees C and the second at 600 degrees C and 700 degrees C for phosphate and palladium, respectively. The precision and accuracy of the method have been studied by analyzing the Reference Material PACS-1 (marine sediment) of National Research Council Canada. The detection limits (LOD) were 11.9 mu g kg(-1) for phosphate and 42.0 mu g kg(-1) when palladium was used. These methods have been applied to the determination of cadmium in marine sediment samples from the Galicia coast and the results of both methods were compared; no significant differences were found between the two procedures.