OPTIMIZED METHOD FOR ANALYZING THE MINERAL

CONTENT OF HONEY

Elisabeta-Irina Geana*, Claudia Sandru, Roxana-Elena Ionete

National Institute for Research and Development for Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies - ICIT Rm. Valcea, Uzinei Street no. 4, P.O. Box Raureni 7, 240050, Ramnicu Valcea, Romania

ABSTRACT

The measurement of element concentration in honey is generally a combination of a digestion procedure for dissolution of elements and a subsequent measurement of the dissolved elements. Prior to analysis, the honey samples must be decomposed with the appropriate methods procedure with digestates containing reduced amounts of carbon residues. In this work, the concentrations of twenty two chemical elements were determined in honey samples using HNO₃ and H₂O₂ for mineralization. Trace element contents (Al, Ba, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Li, Mn, Ni, Sb, Sr, Pb, Tl, Th, U, V, Zn,) were determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), and major elements (Ca, K, Mg, Na) by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (F-AAS). The results showed that the microwave acid digestion with mixture HNO₃:H2O₂ = 9:1 was overall the best procedure for dissolution of elements from honey samples.

Keywords: honey, mineral content, microwave digestion, ICP-MS, AAS