A novel analytical method for determination of picogram levels of total mercury in gasoline and other petroleum based products

Abstract A new and simple sample preparation method has been developed for the determination of mercury in gasoline and other petroleum products. The organo-mercury compounds in the materials are oxidized, while being extracted into the aqueous phase using an oxidant/acid solution, BrCl HCl . The inorganic mercury is simultaneously extracted into the solution. The mercury extracted into the aqueous phase is then reduced to Hg 0 by SnCl 2 and detected by cold vapour atomic fluorescence spectrometer (CVAFS). The detection limit (DL), expressed as 3 S.D. of repeated measurements for the determination of a low concentration sample, was ∼0.01 ng/g. The method is sensitive enough to determine low levels of mercury in all gasoline samples studied with RSDs