Rapid and efficient determination of zinc in water samples by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry after homogeneous liquid-liquid microextraction via flotation assistance

A new application of homogeneous liquid–liquid microextraction via flotation assistance (HLLME-FA) has been developed for the determination of Zn(II) in the water samples by using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). 1-(2-Pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) was used as a chelating reagent. In this work, low density organic solvent was used as an extraction solvent and no centrifugation was required in this method. A special extraction cell was designed to facilitate collection of the low density extraction solvent. The predominant parameters influencing the HLLME-FA procedure, such as solution pH, concentration of PAN, extraction and homogeneous solvent types and volumes, ionic strength, and extraction time have been optimized. Applying all the optimum conditions in the process, the detection limit of 0.1 μg/L, linear range of 0.5–200 μg/L, and the precision (RSD%, n = 10) of 5.7% were obtained for zinc. The proposed procedure showed satisfactory results for the analysis of tap water, well water and sea water. KEY WORDS: Homogeneous liquid-liquid microextraction, Flotation assistance, Zinc, Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry, Water samples Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2022, 36(1), 1-11. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v36i1.1