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Determination and speciation of arsenic in drinking water samples by X-ray spectrometry technique

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Abstract

Arsenic is ranked as the first compound in the Substance Priority List 2023 by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). The most prominent entrance to the human body is through drinking water wherein the predominant species are arsenite and arsenate. The more toxic As(III) has rigorously threatened human health worldwide; hence, speciation and separation are the need of the hour. In this article, we have reported a simple method of arsenic speciation by wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) spectrometer. Valence to core (VtC) electronic transitions, i.e., AsKβ2,5 fluorescence lines were used for arsenic speciation. This speciation study by WD-XRF entails direct measurement of activated alumina pellets containing arsenate and arsenite species adsorbed from water sample without separation of the trivalent and pentavalent species. This is the first report wherein the X-ray technique has been explored for speciation analysis of arsenic and the biggest advantage of the method lies in its applicability to direct analysis of synthesized nanotubes or other solid-phase extraction sorbents entrapping both the arsenic species. For determination of total arsenic using activated alumina as adsorbent, the most intense AsKα1,2 analytical lines were used and the instrumental limit of detection and the lower limit of quantification were 0.23 μg/L and 0.89 μg/L, respectively. For speciation, these limits were calculated to be 50 μg/L and 200 μg/L, respectively.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, AKM, upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the constant support and valuable input of Dr. Utpal Roy Choudhury, GSIER, Kolkata-700091. The authors are also grateful to Dr. Rupankar Paira from the Department of Chemistry, MMCC, Kolkata-700003, India, for his valuable discussions and support during the work on this paper.

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  1. Geological Survey of India, Eastern Region, Salt Lake Sector-2, Kolkata, 700091, India

    Piyali Deb Barman, Ashok Kumar Maurya, Mukul Madaan, Brijendra Kumar, Ankit Roy & Subhendu Ghosh

  2. Geological Survey of India, Northern Region, Aliganj Sector-E, Lucknow, 226024, India

    Ashok Kumar Maurya

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  1. Piyali Deb Barman
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Barman, P.D., Maurya, A.K., Madaan, M. et al. Determination and speciation of arsenic in drinking water samples by X-ray spectrometry technique. ANAL. SCI. 40, 309–317 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44211-023-00461-y

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