Determination of lead by stripping voltammetry with a disposable cartridge for quality control of municipal solid waste molten slag

A novel system of mercury-free anodic stripping voltammetry with a disposable cartridge has been developed for on-site lead measurements to evaluate the environmental safety of secondary materials such as municipal solid waste (MSW) molten slag. The cartridge consists of two key components: a cation-exchange membrane for preconcentration–separation of lead, and carbon and Ag/AgCl electrodes for measurement. The dynamic range of the proposed method was 0.5–10μgL−1 with a detection limit (S/N=3) of 0.15μgL−1. The reproducibility of the method was satisfactory with a relative standard deviation of 3.6% (n=7) for 5μgL−1 lead (II). Interference from Cu(II) was suppressed by adding 5, 10, 15, 20-tetrakis (N-methylpyridium-4-yl)-21H, 23H-porphine to the sample solutions. The present method was successfully applied to the determination of lead in water-leaching and 1molL−1 HCl-extracted solutions from MSW molten slag. This method is useful for quality control of MSW molten slag in a manufacturing setting.