Calibrationless flow-through stripping coulometric determination of arsenic(III) and total arsenic in contaminated water samples after microwave assisted reduction of arsenic(V)

A simple and rapid procedure for the calibrationless determination of trace concentrations of As(III) and total As in contaminated water samples is presented. Arsenic is preconcentrated as As(III) in a flow-through cell with a gold plated porous electrode and is then stripped anodically by a constant current. The stripping chronopotentiogram is registered and evaluated. The As concentration is calculated directly from the combined Faraday’s laws. The total As content was determined after converting all As species to As(III) by microwave-assisted reduction with hydrazine hydrochloride in a closed vessel. The detection limit was found to be 0.15 μg/L and the linear response range was 0.5 to 10 000 μg/L. Tap water, surface water, and waste water samples were analyzed. Received: 14 July 1999 / Revised: 21 September 1999 / Accepted: 24 September 1999