Comparison of dry and wet digestion procedure for determination of heavy metals contents in vegetables

Abstract

This study aims to compare two sample preparation methods, dry-ashing digestion and wet digestion, for determining the concentrations of lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), and copper (Cu) in eight different vegetable samples. Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) was utilized to measure the heavy metal concentrations after sample preparation using the two methods. The findings indicated that the dry-ashing method yielded higher concentrations for lead, chromium, and zinc, while the wet digestion method was more effective for manganese and copper. The relative standard deviation (RSD%) values for both methods were comparable, ranging from 0.98% to 2.92%.