Development of analytical method for determination of lead, copper and nickel in thermomineral waters and fruit juices

Most heavy metals are unnecessary for life functions and all heavy metals above a given concentration can damage the human body. Due to environmental pollution, heavy metals entering increasing amounts of lakes, oceans and soil bring serious risks to humanity. Therefore, it is necessary and important to develop new and sensitive methods for the determination of the heavy metal content of environmental, biological and food samples. In the present study, a new solid phase extraction (SPE) method was developed for the determination of trace amount of lead, copper and nickel in fruit juices and thermomineral waters by using High-Resolution Continuum Source Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (HR CS- FAAS ). In the study, an activated carbon obtained from the vine shoots (ACVS) was used as adsorbents. The column technique has been applied in the seperation and enrichment process. In order to determine the most favorable conditions; the pH of the sample solution, the type and concentration of the recovery solution, the flow rate of the sample solution and the recovery solution, the volume of the sample solution, the effect of foreign ions on the yield of recovery of analyte ions was investigated. In the column containing ACVS, for the lead, copper and nickel the detection limits (LOD) 0.36, 0.69 and 0.28 µg L-1, the enrichment factor 60. The accuracy of the method was checked by recovering of the known amount analyte ions added to the actual sample. The developed method has been successfully applied to a variety of fruit juices and thermomineral water samples. December 2019- xiii+ 55 Pages Keywords: Fruit Juice, Thermoimineral Waters, Activated Carbon, Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry, Heavy metals