Comparison of Methods for Determining Sodium in Fertilizers
Abstract The AOAC official first action method, 2.147-2.150, for flame emission spectrophotometry (FES) determination of sodium in fertilizers was compared with the atomic absorption spectrophotometric (AAS) method and the sodium selective electrode (SSE) method. Ammonium oxalate, which was previously compared with water, H2SO4, HC1, and HNO3, was used to extract the sample for all 3 methods. Three synthetic NPK samples, 3 commercial samples (urea, normal superphosphate, and neutrophos), 1 phosphate rock, and 2 Magruder check samples were used for the study. Statistically significant differences were obtained in averages for most of the samples, but few differences were found in standard deviations. The AAS method showed the best accuracy and precision. Accuracy of the AOAC method is acceptable. The SSE method showed the highest deviations from the theoretical values. A collaborative study is recommended to compare the AOAC with the AAS method.