Elemental analysis of coal by tandem laser induced breakdown spectroscopy and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma time of flight mass spectrometry

•Tandem LIBS LA-ICP-MS•Simultaneous determination of major and minor elements and trace elements in the coal samples.•Extended Dynamic Range•Correlation between LIBS with LA-ICP-MS demonstrated improved the accuracy and precision for quantitative analysis of coal.

The capabilities and analytical benefits of combined LIBS and LA-ICP-MS were evaluated for the analysis of coal samples. The ablation system consisted of a Nd:YAG laser operated 213 nm. A Czerny-turner spectrograph with ICCD detector and time-of-flight based mass spectrometer were utilized for LIBS and ICP-MS detection, respectively. This tandem approach allows simultaneous determination of major and minor elements (C, Si, Ca, Al, Mg), and trace elements (V, Ba, Pb, U, etc.) in the coal samples. The research focused on calibration strategies, specifically the use of univariate and multivariate data analysis on analytical performance. Partial least square regression (PLSR) was shown to minimize and compensate for matrix effects in the emission and mass spectra improving quantitative analysis by LIBS and LA-ICP-MS, respectively. The correlation between measurements from these two techniques demonstrated that mass spectral data combined with LIBS emission measurements by PLSR improved the accuracy and precision for quantitative analysis of trace elements in coal.