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Updated: Aug 19, 2026
Quantification of Metal Leaching in Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography
Published on: January 17, 2020
A novel approach for the determination of detection limits for metal analysis of environmental water samples
X Jin Yang1, Gary K-C Low, Roy Foley
1Environmental Forensics and Analytical Science, Department of Environment and Conservation (NSW), Lidcombe 1825, Australia. jin.yang@environment.nsw.gov.au
Abstract:
Despite the widespread use of the USEPA method (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 40 CFR 136 Appendix B) for the determination of method detection limit (MDL), criticisms have been raised that the method does not account for measurement bias and outliers that subsequently lead to a common misunderstanding of the requirement for the determination of MDL. This paper demonstrates that it is difficult to follow the USEPA method for verifying the MDL for analysis involving multiple metals and proposes a precision and bias criterion for determining the MDL. A multiple-point fitted profile, based on the correlation between relative standard deviation (RSD) and concentration, is used to derive a robust MDL value. Representative examples of As, Ca, Cr, and Cu are used to illustrate this procedure. A procedure for identifying outliers is also discussed.
