Comparative Study of Sample Preparation Methods for Zn, Fe and Cu Determination in Mussels by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

Sample preparation is a very important stage in the determination of heavy metals. In this paper a comparison was made of three digestion procedures: conventional acid digestion, calcination and microwave acid digestion. Conventional procedures (acid digestion and calcination) are very tedious and take a lot of time, while microwave acid digestion is a very rapid procedure and the results obtained in Zn, Fe and Cu determinations are comparable with those obtained with the conventional methods.