Dry ashing of plant material and dissolution of the ash in HF for the colorimetric determination of silicon

Abstract

In the past, determination of silicates in plant material was laborious and/or difficult. In several research fields outside plant analysis, digestion of material was obtained with the use of HF, followed by a boric‐acid treatment to eliminate excess HF. In the present study, this procedure was applied to plant material. Before digestion with HF, the plant sample is dry‐ashed. After suitable dilution, Si can be determined colorimetrically. The proposed method proved to be rapid and accurate.