METHOD DEVELOPMENT FOR DETERMINATION OF INORGANIC IMPURITIES IN WASTEWATER FROM METHAMPHETAMINE SYNTHESIS USING INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA - MASS SPECTROMETRY (ICP-MS)

Abstract

The inorganic impurities are essential in the synthesis of methamphetamine, and might be present in wastewater near the production site. The determination of these elements therefore, may contribute useful information for the investigation of illegal methamphetamine production. In this study, ICP-MS was used to quantify  7 inorganic impurities (Li, B, Al, Ni, Zn, Pd, Pt) in wastewater with analysis conditions: plasma flow rate: 15.0 L/min, RF source capacity: 1.5 kW, sample depth 5.5 mm. Simple sample preparation using HNO₃ was used. The method was validated according to AOAC 2016 guidelines. The selectivity and repeatability was adequate, as well as for linearity within the investigated concentrations of 1 - 250 ppb for Li, Ni; 5 - 250 ppb for B, Pd, Pt; 25 - 500 ppb for Al and 10 - 500 ppb for Zn. LOD ranged from 0.2 ppb to 7.6 ppb; LOQ from 0.8 ppb to 25.3 ppb. The recovery was 82.4 - 118.2 % with the concentration 10 ppb - 500 ppb; 87.3 - 109.3 % with the concentration 1 ppb - 10 ppb.