Flame Photometry: For the Determination of Alkali Metals in Commercially Sold Fireworks

The alkali and alkaline earth metals such as potassium, sodium, barium and strontium are generally used as oxidizer in fireworks. The arbitrary use of these chemicals in fireworks is an acute issue responsible for higher emissions. Hence, efforts are underway to monitor these chemicals in fireworks. This work reports the precise determination of potassium and sodium in fireworks samples by flame photometry. The average deviation by flame photometry analysis was 7 to 8 % and 3 to 4 % for potassium and sodium, respectively, when the concentration of the respective metal nitrates in fireworks composition was less than 50%. The effect of different components in fireworks mixture, such as nitrate and metal precursor, were also studied to understand their impact on results. A brief study in terms of limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ) and dynamic range was also performed, which showed 0.42 and 3.26 mg/L as LOD and 1.29 and 9.88 mg L-1 as LOQ for the analysis of sodium and potassium, respectively. In summary, the study proved the prospective of flame photometry for determining sodium and potassium in fireworks samples.