Determination of zinc in edible oils by flow injection FAAS after extraction induced by emulsion breaking procedure

• Determination of Zn by FI-FAAS in edible oils was developed after EIEB procedure.
• Emulsions were prepared by mixing edible oil samples with an acidic Triton X-114.
• Emulsion brought by heating.
• The proposed procedure was a simple, sensitive, reproducible, and economical.
• It permitted the use of stable inorganic standards for calibration.

A new procedure using extraction induced by emulsion breaking (EIEB) procedure has been developed for extraction/preconcentration of zinc in various edible oils (canola oil, corn oil, hazelnut oil, olive oil, and sunflower oil) prior to its determination by the single line flow injection (FI) flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). Several parameters affecting the extraction efficiency of the procedure were investigated including the type and concentrations of surfactant, the concentration of HNO3, and the other operational conditions (emulsion breaking time and temperature). The limits of detection of 1.1 and 1.0 μg L−1 were observed for zinc when aqueous standard and oil-based standards were added to the emulsions for calibration, respectively. The proposed procedure of combining EIEB and single line FI-FAAS can be regarded as a new procedure for the determination of zinc in edible oil samples.