Determination of soluble aluminium concentration in alkaline humic water using atomic absorption spectrophotometry

The steps of the standard method to determine soluble aluminium concentration are filtering, followed by acidifying, then analysing with the atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). When applied to alkaline humic water, acidification gives rise to the formation of humic acid as a brown particulate matter. Of the total soluble aluminium in the original water, 49-61% forms complexes with the particulate humic acid upon acidification. Although the AAS is capable of detecting the binding aluminium, the particulate nature of humic acid easily induces inaccurate readings as a result of the non-uniform distribution of the particulate matter. A more precise analysis of soluble aluminium concentration of alkaline humic water is shown to be achievable in basicified solutions instead. Basicified solutions keep humic acid in the soluble form; hence maintain the homogeneity of the sample.