Document Center is acquired by Nimonik

1.1 This practice covers the procedure for use of microwave radiation for sample decomposition prior to elemental determination by atomic spectroscopy.

1.2 This practice is applicable to both petroleum products and lubricants such as greases, additives, lubricating oils, gasolines, and diesels.

1.3 Although not a part of Committee D02’s jurisdiction, this practice is also applicable to other fossil fuel products such as coal, fly ash, coal ash, coke, and oil shale.

1.4 During the sample dissolution, the samples may be decomposed with a variety of acid mixture(s). It is beyond the scope of this practice to specify appropriate acid mixtures for all possible combinations of elements present in all types of samples. But if the dissolution results in any visible insoluble material, this practice may not be applicable for the type of sample being analyzed, assuming the insoluble material contains some of the analytes of interest.

1.5 It is possible that this microwave-assisted decomposition procedure may lead to a loss of “volatile” elements such as arsenic, boron, chromium, mercury, antimony, selenium, and/or tin from the samples. Chemical species of the elements is also a concern in such dissolutions since some species may not be digested and have a different sample introduction efficiency.

1.6 A reference material or suitable NIST Standard Reference Material should be used to confirm the recovery of analytes. If these are not available, the sample should be spiked with a known concentration of analyte prior to microwave digestion.

1.7 Additional information on sample preparation procedures for elemental analysis of petroleum products and lubricants can be found in Practice D7455.

1.8 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as standard. No other units of measurement are included in this standard.

1.9 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety, health, and environmental practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use. Specific warning statements are given in Sections 6 and 7.

1.10 This international standard was developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles on standardization established in the Decision on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations issued by the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee.

5.1 Often it is necessary to dissolve the sample, particularly if it is a solid, before atomic spectroscopic measurements. It is advantageous to use a microwave oven for dissolution of such samples since it is a far more rapid way of dissolving the samples instead of using the traditional procedures of dissolving the samples in acid solutions using a pressure decomposition vessel, or other means.

5.2 The advantage of microwave dissolution includes faster digestion that results from the high temperature and pressure attained inside the sealed containers. The use of closed vessels also makes it possible to eliminate uncontrolled trace element losses of volatile species that are present in a sample or that are formed during sample dissolution. Volatile elements arsenic, boron, chromium, mercury, antimony, selenium, and tin may be lost with some open vessel acid dissolution procedures. Another advantage of microwave aided dissolution is to have better control of potential contamination in blank as compared to open vessel procedures. This is due to less contamination from laboratory environment, unclean containers, and smaller quantity of reagents used (9).

5.3 Because of the differences among various makes and models of satisfactory devices, no detailed operating instructions can be provided. Instead, the analyst should follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer of the particular device.

5.4 Mechanism of Microwave Heating—Microwaves have the capability to heat one material much more rapidly than another since materials vary greatly in their ability to absorb microwaves depending upon their polarities. Microwave oven is acting as a source of intense energy to rapidly heat the sample. However, a chemical reaction is still necessary to complete the dissolution of the sample into acid mixtures. Microwave heating is internal as well as external as opposed to the conventional heating which is only external. Better contact between the sample particles and the acids is the key to rapid dissolution. Thus, heavy nonporous materials such as fuel oils or coke are not as efficiently dissolved by microwave heating. Local internal heating taking place on individual particles can result in the rupture of the particles, thus exposing a fresh surface to the reagent contact. Heated dielectric liquids (water/acid) in contact with the dielectric particles generate heat orders of magnitude above the surface of a particle. This can create large thermal convection currents which can agitate and sweep away the stagnant surface layers of dissolved solution and thus, expose fresh surface to fresh solution. Simple microwave heating alone, however, will not break the chemical bonds, since the proton energy is less than the strength of the chemical bond (5).