Determination of Mn, Fe, and Cu in chemically-treated wood pulps by the XRF addition method

A rapid X-ray fluorescence addition method has been developed for quantification of the technically most important metals in wood pulp matrix (Mn, Fe, and Cu). Pretreatment consisted of just two steps: first, acid was added to the sample to achieve homogeneous distribution of the metals; the pulp was then pressed lightly on to Mylar film. Total analysis time was less than 10 min. The concentration range investigated was up to 15 mg kg^–1 for Mn and up to 5 mg kg^–1 for Fe and Cu. Metal concentrations in Scandinavian pulps are not expected to exceed these amounts. The quantification limit was 2 mg kg^–1 for all three metals. The reproducibilities and repeatabilities were concentration-dependent and varied between 3 and 19% and between 1 and 17%, respectively. The squares of the linear correlation coefficients between measured intensity and added metal concentration were 0.994, 0.950, and 0.932 for Mn, Fe, and Cu, respectively. Received: 19 February 2001 / Revised: 17 April 2001 / Accepted: 19 April 2001