Abstract

Two commercially available Portland cement reference materials (X0201 and X0203) from Dillinger Hüttenwerke (Freiberg, Germany) were analysed by sector field ICP-MS with standard additions calibration, after complete microwave digestion. The scope of this work was to verify the concentrations of the environmentally relevant elements As, Be, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, V and Zn, and to determine the concentrations of the environmentally important but non-certified elements Sn, Cd and Tl. The measured concentrations were well above the method detection limits and were generally found to correspond with the certified values. Only for Ni and V could the certified values not be confirmed (more Ni and less V than certified in both reference materials). Furthermore, the major spectral interferences which can occur when using quadrupole ICP-MS for the determination of the aforementioned trace elements in Portland cement are discussed, based on comparative measurements with a sector field and a quadrupole instrument and mass spectra at ‘high’ (ca. 15000) resolution.