Sample Pretreatment in the Analysis of the Trace Elements Using Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (GFAAS)

Many methods have been proposed for the species pretreatment or extraction from the environmental water samples prior to the analytical measurement. Generally, separation and preconcentration methods can increase the accurate and precision of the species analysis by eliminating the matrix effects and lowering the detection limits (LOD) in many trace elements analysis. In this review, three different types of separation and preconcentration methods: cloud point extraction (CPE), solid phase extraction (SPE) and dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) were evaluated based on their different principles and efficiencies in the species analyzed by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry with the aim of highlighting some of the important aspects like extraction time, pH, detection limit and their recoveries. Some advantages and problems arising from the three methods were also discussed and concluded in this review paper