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Trace Element Composition of Fertilizers and Soil Amendments
Author(s) -
Raven K. P.,
Loeppert R. H.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq1997.00472425002600020028x
Subject(s) - environmental chemistry , sewage sludge , fertilizer , phosphorus , microwave digestion , trace element , chemistry , neutron activation analysis , phosphate , atomic absorption spectroscopy , amendment , phosphate fertilizer , phosphorite , pollutant , environmental science , sewage , trace metal , inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy , metal , inductively coupled plasma , radiochemistry , environmental engineering , detection limit , physics , organic chemistry , chromatography , quantum mechanics , political science , law , plasma
The use of fertilizers and soil amendments has raised concern regarding the toxic accumulation of their trace components in the environment. The objective of this research was to evaluate the trace element and heavy metal composition of a wide variety of fertilizers and soil amendments. Thirty‐five elements, including priority pollutants, were determined in 24 materials. A microwave HNO 3 ‐HF‐H 2 O 2 ‐H 3 BO 3 digestion procedure was used to dissolve the samples. Selected solid samples were directly analyzed by neutron activation analysis, while atomic absorption and inductively‐coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometric determinations were carried out on the digests. The trace element and heavy metal concentrations generally decreased in the following sample order: rock phosphate > sewage sludge > phosphorus fertilizer > organic amendments and liming materials > K fertilizers > N fertilizers. Relatively high concentrations of toxic elements in the sewage sludge, rock phosphate, and phosphorus fertilizer samples suggest that these materials should be the primary target materials for environmental evaluations.