Application of Experimental Design to the Optimization of a Wet Acid Digestion Procedure for Cd Determination in Plastic Materials by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

ABSTRACT

A simple and reliable method for Cd determination in plastic materials using optimized wet acid digestion procedure and atomic absorption spectroscopy was developed. In order to obtain the best experimental conditions for plastic digestion, a 2^7–4 Plackett-Burman design for screening the significant factors and a 2^4–1 central composite design to optimize the significant experimental variables were carried out. The polyethylene European Reference Material ERM-EC680 with certified Cd content was used in both the screening and the optimization steps. The optimized experimental conditions 0.200 g of plastic material digested with 2 mL nitric acid (30 min, 130°C) followed by 1 mL sulfuric acid (30 min, 140°C). The accuracy and precision was checked using ERM-EC680. The Cd recovery was 101.3% and the relative standard deviation was 5.6%. The limit of detection obtained was 0.23 mg kg^?1. The method was applied in the analysis of one PVC plastic material, several commercial packaging materials, and plastic toys.