In analyzing heavy metals in soil samples, the standard protocol established by Korean Minstry of Environment (KSTM) requires two different pretreatments (A and B) based on soil particle size. Soil particles < 0.15 mm in diameter after sieving are directly processed into acid extraction (method A). However, if the quantity of soil particles < 0.15 mm are not enough, grinding of the particles within 0.15 mm ~ 2 mm is required (method B). Grinding is often needed for some field samples, especially for the soil samples retrieved from soil washing process that contain relatively large-sized soil grains. In this study, two soil samples with different particle size distribution were prepared and analyzed for heavy metals concentrations using two different pretreatment to investigate the effect of grinding. The results showed that heavy metal concentrations tend to increase with the increase of the fraction of small-sized particles. In comparison of the two pretreatments, pretreatment A yielded higher heavy metal concentration than pretreatment B, indicating significant influence of grinding on analytical results. This results suggest that the analytical values of heavy metals in soil samples obtained by KSTM should be taken with caution and carefully reviewed.

Keywords: Sample pretreatment, Particle size, Heavy metal, Grinding