Food Analysis / ICPE-9800 Series
Analysis of Trace Elements in Fish Sample with
ICP-AES (ICP-OES) on ICPE-9800
Application
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Experimental
The sample used in this analysis was Fish Protein
Certified Reference Material for Trace Metals (DORM-
4), from National Research Council Canada. There were
two sets of preparation. The sample, 0.5 g, was placed
in a digestion vessel followed by addition of 5.0 mL of
concentrated nitric acid, 2.0 mL of hydrogen peroxide
and 1.0 mL of water. The mixture was digested using
microwave-assisted digestion system based on AOAC
999.10 procedure. After the digestion process,
deionized water was added to the digested sample to a
final total volume of 20.0 mL.
The calibration standards were prepared from 1000
ppm copper (Cu), iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) standards, and
100 ppm ICP multi-element standard solution IX, which
contains arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr),
nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and selenium (Se). The standard
solutions were purchased from Merck Millipore,
Germany. Type E-1 ultra pure water with resistivity of
18 ΩW was used. Three different calibration ranges
were prepared to cover the range of the elements
based on the certified values. The calibration standards
were acid matched to the digested samples.
Measurement was conducted using the Shimadzu ICPE-
9820 simultaneous ICP-AES spectrometer, equipped
with the mini-torch.
Table 1. Instrument and measurement conditions
Instrument : ICPE-9820
Radio Frequency Power : 1.20 (kW)
Plasma Gas Flow Rate : 10.0 (L/min)
Auxiliary Gas Flow Rate : 0.60 (L/min)
Nebulizer Gas Flow Rate : 0.70 (L/min)
Nebulizer : Coaxial Nebulizer
Spray Chamber : Cyclone Chamber
Plasma Torch : Mini-torch
Observation : Axial
Introduction
Fish is one of the most important food resource that is widely consumed in many parts of the world due to its high
protein content, low saturated fats and omega-3 fatty acid. It is also rich in calcium and phosphorus. However,
because of industrial discharges from human activities, fish may have trace levels of toxic elements such as arsenic,
cadmium and lead which are absorbed from the environmental water and the foods they eat. The toxicity of these
metals poses a concern to human health through the consumption of fish. Here, Shimadzu ICPE-9820, a
simultaneous inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) was used to conduct a
simultaneous analysis of elements in fish. The ICPE-9820, with its mini-torch plasma and spectrometer permitting
all elements / all wavelengths simultaneous analysis, provides high sensitivity and throughput measurement while
reducing running cost.
The typical measurement conditions are shown in Table
1. The elements, wavelength and calibration ranges
used are shown in Table 2.
Element Wavelength Concentration Range
As 193.759
0 to 0.2 ppm
Cd 214.438
Cr 205.552
Ni 231.604
Pb 220.353
Se 203.985
Cu 224.700
0 to 2 ppm
Zn 206.200
Fe 239.147 0 to 20 ppm
Table 2. Elements, wavelength and calibration ranges
