US Geological Survey Bulletin 2144 Mercury Table 3

Determination of Mercury and Selenium in Eight Argonne Premium Coal Samples by Cold-Vapor and Hydride-Generation Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

Table 3. Comparison of recommended values of mercury concentrations in standard reference materials with mean concentrations determined in this study by cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS).

[Column hedaings: RV, recommended value of mercury concentration from the references A-E; SDEV, standard deviation; %RSD, relative standard deviation, in percent; %R, percent recovery, which compares the values obtained by CVAAS in this study with the recommended values; µg/g, micrograms per gram. Sources: NIST, U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, formerly the National Bureau of Standards (NBS); NRCC, National Research Council of Canada; USGS, U.S. Geological Survey; BCR, Community Bureau of Reference of the Commission of the European Communities. References: A, Lengyel and others 1994; B, NBS, 1974; C, NBS, 1978a; D, Govindaraju, 1989; E, Griepink and others, 1986]

Standard	Source	Reference	Description	RV (µg/g)	This study, CVAAS			%R
Standard	Source	Reference	Description	RV (µg/g)	Mean (µg/g)	SDEV (µg/g)	%RSD	%R
SRM 1632b	NIST	A	Coal	0.077±0.017	0.068	0.005	7.4	88
SRM 1632	NIST	B	Coal	.12± 0.02	.091	.011	12	76
SRM 1632a	NIST	C	Coal	.13 ±0.03	.119	.007	5.9	91
MESS-1	NRCC	D	Marine sediment	.171	.175	.02	11	102
SDO-1	USGS	D	Shale	.19	.182	.011	6	96
CRM 181	BCR	E	Coal	.138±0.011	.143	.005	3.5	104

Table 4. Comparison of recommended values of selenium concentrations in standard reference materials with mean concentrations determined in this study by hydride-generation atomic absorption spectrometry (HGAAS).

[Column hedaings: RV, recommended value of selenium concentration from the references A-E; SDEV, standard deviation; %RSD, relative standard deviation, in percent; %R, percent recovery, which compares the values obtained by HGAAS in this study with the recommended values; µg/g, micrograms per gram. Sources: NIST, U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, formerly the National Bureau of Standards (NBS); NRCC, National Research Council of Canada; USGS, U.S. Geological Survey; BCR, Community Bureau of Reference of the Commission of the European Communities. References: A, NBS, 1978b; B, Stephen A. Wilson, USGS, oral commun., 1994; C, Eric P. Welsch, USGS, written commun., 1991)]

Standard	Source	Reference	Description	RV (µg/g)	This study, HGAAS			%R
Standard	Source	Reference	Description	RV (µg/g)	Mean (µg/g)	SDEV (µg/g)	%RSD	%R
SRM 1635	NIST	A	Coal	0.9	0.95	0.10	11	108
CLB-1	USGS	B	Coal	2.1	2.5	.2	8	119
ALF	USGS	C	Alfalfa	.19	.18	.02	11	95