Determination of lead and cadmium in water samples by cloud point extraction prior to flame atomic absorption spectrometry determination

Pb and Cd in water samples were determined by cloud point extraction (CPE) with sodiumdiethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC) as the chelating agent and octylphenoxypolyethanl (Triton X-114) asthe surfactant prior to flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) determination. The main factorsof affecting the extraction and detection processes were optimized. The preconcentration of 10 mL ofstandard solutions gave enhancement factors of 35 and 75 and the detection limits of 9.41 and 0.40ng mL-1 for Pb and Cd, respectively. The proposed method was applied satisfactorily to thedetermination of Pb and Cd in seawater and lake water. Good agreement was obtained between theadded and measured analyte amounts through the recovery of experiments.