On-line preconcentration of zinc on ethyl vinyl acetate prior to its determination by CVG-ICP-OES

► An on-line separation/preconcentration procedure using EVA has been coupled to the zinc vapor generation was studied. ► The zinc was retained as precipitate on the column without any complexing agent. ► Volatile species of zinc were generated with sodium tetrahydroborate in a continuous flow system. ► Multivariate techniques (two level factorial design and central composite design) were used for optimization of analytical methods. ► An enhancement factor of 230-fold was obtained and the detection limit was 0.06 μg L− 1.