prEN 17775

Scope

This document specifies a method for extraction, separation, and determination of inorganic arsenic (iAs) in organic or organo-mineral fertilizers using anion-exchange high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or ion chromatography (IC) coupled to ICP-MS. This document is applicable to fertilizing product blends where a blend is a mix of at least two of the following components: fertilizers, liming materials, soil improvers, growing media, inhibitors, plant biostimulants and where the following category organic fertilizer or organo-mineral fertiliser is the highest % in the blend by mass or volume, or in the case of liquid form by dry mass. If the organic fertilizer or the organo-mineral fertilizer is not the highest % in the blend, the European Standard for the highest % of the blend applies. In case a fertilizing product blend is composed of components in equal quantity, the user decides which standard to apply. Variations in analytical methods for fertilizing product blends can lead to differing results as some components or matrix interactions can affect the outcome. Validation procedures have shown that developed standard methods are robust and reliable across diverse product compositions, but possible interferences and unexpected results when analysing fertilizing product blends are possible.