Double pulse laser induced breakdown spectroscopy: A potential tool for the analysis of contaminants and macro/micronutrients in organic mineral fertilizers

Author(s)

Nicolodelli, Gustavo ^[1] ; Senesi, Giorgio Saverio ^[2] ; de Oliveira Perazzoli, Ivan Luiz ^[1] ; Marangoni, Bruno Spolon ^[3] ; Benites, Vinicius De Melo ^[4] ; Bastos Pereira Milori, Debora Marcondes ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Embrapa Instrumentat, POB 741, BR-13560970 Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil

^[2] CNR, Ist Nanotecnol NANOTEC, PLASMI Lab, I-70126 Bari - Italy

^[3] Univ Fed Mato Grosso do Sul, Inst Fis, POB 549, BR-79070900 Campo Grande, MS - Brazil

^[4] Embrapa Solos, Rua Jardim Bot 1024, BR-22460000 Rio De Janeiro, RJ - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Science of The Total Environment; v. 565, p. 1116-1123, SEP 15 2016.
• Web of Science Citations: 22

Abstract

Organic fertilizers are obtained from waste of plant or animal origin. One of the advantages of organic fertilizers is that, from the composting, it recycles waste-organic of urban and agriculture origin, whose disposal would cause environmental impacts. Fast and accurate analysis of both major and minor/trace elements contained in organic mineral and inorganic fertilizers of new generation have promoted the application of modern analytical techniques. In particular, laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is showing to be a very promising, quick and practical technique to detect and measure contaminants and nutrients in fertilizers. Although, this technique presents some limitations, such as a low sensitivity, if compared to other spectroscopic techniques, the use of double pulse (DP) LIBS is an alternative to the conventional LIBS in single pulse (SP). The macronutrients (Ca, Mg, K, P), micronutrients (Cu, Fe, Na, Mn, Zn) and contaminant (Cr) in fertilizer using LIBS in SP and DP configurations were evaluated. A comparative study for both configurations was performed using optimized key parameters for improving LIBS performance. The limit of detection (LOD) values obtained by DP LIBS increased up to seven times as compared to SP LIBS. In general, the marked improvement obtained when using DP system in the simultaneous LIBS quantitative determination for fertilizers analysis could be ascribed to the larger ablated mass of the sample. The results presented in this study show the promising potential of the DP LIBS technique for a qualitative analysis in fertilizers, without requiring sample preparation with chemical reagents. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/24349-0 - Development and evaluation of a double-pulse LIBS system: Application for soil characterization
• Grantee: Gustavo Nicolodelli
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 13/07276-1 - CEPOF - Optics and Photonic Research Center
• Grantee: Vanderlei Salvador Bagnato
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers - RIDC