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Abstract
A simple, inexpensive and rapid method has been developed for the determination of copper in tap water. The analyte is sampled with preconcentration on a recently synthesised polyethyleneimine‐agarose chelating adsorbent and determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The effects of sample flow rate, sample pH, adsorbent volume, eluent flow rate and sample matrix on the recovery of copper were investigated. It was found that a volume of only 0.05 ml of the adsorbent packed in a column (i.d. 5.7 mm) efficiently accumulated copper at flow rates up to 15 ml/min. A device for on-site sampling of tap water was constructed from a 60 ml syringe with the adsorbent packed in the conical outlet of the syringe. It was tested by 22 households and resulted in a mean recovery of 99±10% for copper concentrations ranging between 8 and 650μg/l.