prEN 18254
(Main)Soil improvers and growing media - Determination of the inorganic arsenic content
Soil improvers and growing media - Determination of the inorganic arsenic content
This document specifies a method for extraction, separation, and determination of inorganic arsenic (iAs) in growing media and soil improvers using anion-exchange high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or ion chromatography (IC) coupled to ICP-MS.
This document is applicable to the fertilizing product blends where a blend is a mix of two or more fertilising products belonging to the categories of fertilizers, liming material, soil improvers, growing media, inhibitors and plant biostimulants, and where soil improvers and/or growing media are the components with the highest percentage in the blend by mass or volume, or in the case of products in liquid form by dry mass. If the soil improvers and/or growing media are not the components with the highest percentage in the blend, the document relevant to the component with the highest percentage in the blend applies. In case a blend is composed of fertilising products mixed in equal quantities, the user of the document decides which standard to apply.
NOTE A soil improver consists of a single bulky (volume-building) component or a mix of bulky (volume-building) components (for example peat, wood fibres, coconut coir, compost, expanded perlite).
Bodenverbesserungsmittel und Kultursubstrate - Bestimmung des anorganischen Arsengehalts
Dieses Dokument legt ein Verfahren zur Extraktion, Trennung und Bestimmung von anorganischem Arsen (iAs; en:inorganic arsenic) in Kultursubstraten und Bodenverbesserungsmitteln mit Anionenaustausch- Hochleistungs-Flüssigkeitschromatographie(HPLC) oder Ionenchromatographie(IC) gekoppelt mit ICP-MS fest.
Dieses Dokument ist für Düngemittelproduktmischungen anwendbar, wenn die Mischung aus mindestens zwei Düngemittelprodukten der folgenden Kategorien besteht: Düngemittel, Kalkdünger, Bodenverbesserungs
mittel, Kultursubstrate, Hemmstoffe und Pflanzen-Biostimulanzien, sowie wenn Bodenverbesserungsmittel und/oder Kultursubstrate die Bestandteile mit dem höchsten prozentualen Anteil in der Mischung nach Masse oder Volumen oder, im Fall von flüssigen Formen, nach Trockenmasse ausmachen. Wenn die
verbesserungsmittel und/oder Kultursubstrate nicht den höchsten prozentualen Anteil in der Mischung ausmachen, ist das für den Bestandteil mit dem höchsten prozentualen Anteil in der Mischung geltende Dokument anwendbar. Falls eine Mischung aus in gleichen Mengen gemischten Düngeprodukten besteht, entscheidet der Anwender, welche Norm angewendet wird.
ANMERKUNG Ein Bodenverbesserungsmittel besteht aus einem einzigen schüttfähigen (Volumen aufbauenden) Bestandteil oder aus einem Gemisch schüttfähiger (Volumen aufbauender) Bestandteile (z.B. Torf, Holzfasern, Kokosfasern, Kompost, Blähperlit).
Amendements du sol et supports de culture - Détermination de la teneur en arsenic inorganique
Le présent document spécifie une méthode d’extraction, de séparation et de dosage de l’arsenic inorganique (iAs) dans les supports de culture et les amendements du sol par chromatographie en phase liquide haute performance (HPLC) avec échange d’anions ou par chromatographie ionique (IC) couplée à une ICP-MS.
Le présent document est applicable aux mélanges de produits fertilisants constitués d’au moins deux produits fertilisants appartenant aux catégories suivantes : engrais, amendements minéraux basiques, amendements du sol, supports de culture, inhibiteurs et biostimulants des végétaux et, dans lesquels les amendements du sol et/ou les supports de culture sont les composants qui représentent le pourcentage le plus élevé du mélange en masse ou en volume, ou dans le cas d’un liquide, en masse sèche. Si les amendements du sol et/ou les supports de culture ne sont pas les composants qui représentent le pourcentage le plus élevé du mélange, le document relatif au composant ayant le pourcentage le plus élevé dans le mélange s’applique. Dans le cas où le mélange de produits fertilisants est constitué de composants en quantités égales, l’utilisateur décide quelle norme appliquer.
NOTE Un amendement du sol se compose d’un seul composant volumineux (augmentant le volume) ou d’un mélange de composants volumineux (augmentant le volume) (par exemple, la tourbe, les fibres de bois, la fibre de coco, le compost, la perlite expansée).
Izboljševalci tal in rastni substrati - Določanje anorganskega arzena
General Information
Standards Content (Sample)
SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-december-2025
Izboljševalci tal in rastni substrati - Določanje anorganskega arzena
Soil improvers and growing media - Determination of the inorganic arsenic content
Bodenverbesserungsmittel und Kultursubstrate - Bestimmung des anorganischen
Arsengehalts
Amendements du sol et supports de culture - Détermination de la teneur en arsenic
inorganique
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: prEN 18254
ICS:
65.080 Gnojila Fertilizers
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.
DRAFT
EUROPEAN STANDARD
NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
October 2025
ICS 65.080
English Version
Soil improvers and growing media - Determination of the
inorganic arsenic content
Amendements du sol et supports de culture - Bodenverbesserungsmittel und Kultursubstrate -
Détermination de la teneur en arsenic inorganique Bestimmung des anorganischen Arsengehalts
This draft European Standard is submitted to CEN members for enquiry. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee
CEN/TC 223.
If this draft becomes a European Standard, CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations
which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.
This draft European Standard was established by CEN in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other
language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC
Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and
United Kingdom.
Recipients of this draft are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are
aware and to provide supporting documentation.
Warning : This document is not a European Standard. It is distributed for review and comments. It is subject to change without
notice and shall not be referred to as a European Standard.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION
EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2025 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. prEN 18254:2025 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.
Contents Page
European foreword . 3
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 5
2 Normative references . 5
3 Terms and definitions . 5
4 Principle . 6
5 Reagents . 6
6 Apparatus . 8
7 Sampling . 9
8 Procedure . 9
8.1 Safety . 9
8.2 Sample preparation . 9
8.3 Water bath extraction . 9
8.4 Preparation of the calibration solutions . 10
8.5 Measurement . 10
8.5.1 General instrumental conditions . 10
8.5.2 HPLC-ICP/MS measurement of inorganic arsenic . 11
9 Calculation and expression of the results . 12
9.1 Integration of peaks . 12
9.2 Calculation of inorganic arsenic in the samples . 13
10 Test report . 13
11 Validation of the method . 14
11.1 Validation in accordance with ISO 5725-2. 14
11.2 Performance characteristics. 14
Annex A (informative) Examples of typical chromatographic separation . 15
Annex B (informative) Performance characteristics of the method . 17
Bibliography . 19
European foreword
This document (prEN 18254:2025) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 223 “Soil
improvers and growing media”, the secretariat of which is held by NEN.
This document is currently submitted to the CEN Enquiry.
This document has been prepared under a standardization request addressed to CEN by the European
Commission. The Standing Committee of the EFTA States subsequently approves these requests for its
Member States.
Introduction
This document was prepared by the experts of CEN/TC 223 “Soil improvers and growing media”. The
European Committee for Standardization (CEN) was requested by the European Commission (EC) to
draft European standards or European standardization deliverables to support the implementation of
Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 of 5 June 2019 laying down rules on the making available on the market of
EU fertilizing products (“FPR” or “Fertilising Products Regulation”) [8].
This standardization request, presented as M/564, also contributes to the Communication on “Innovating
for Sustainable Growth: A Bio economy for Europe”. The Working Group 4 “Analytical methods” was
requested to develop a work programme as part of this request. The technical committee CEN/TC 223
“Soil improvers and growing media” was requested to carry out the work programme that will prepare a
series of standards. The interest in soil improvers and growing media has increased significantly in
Europe as a valuable tool to use in agriculture. Standardization was identified as having an important role
in order to promote the use of soil improvers and growing media. The work of CEN/TC 223 seeks to
improve the reliability of the supply chain, thereby boosting the confidence of farmers, industry and
consumers in soil improvers and growing media and will promote and support commercialisation of the
European fertilizer industry. The preparation of this document is based on a standardization request to
CEN by the European Commission and the European Free Trade Association (Mandate M/564)
concerning the modernization of methods of analysis of fertilizers in the framework of Regulation (EU)
2019/1009 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
This document describes a procedure of extraction and measurement for the determination of inorganic
arsenic in growing media and soil improvers. The document is based on a mild acid oxidative extraction
of the arsenic species followed by liquid chromatography (High Performance Liquid Chromatography –
HPLC) or Ion Chromatography (IC) coupled to the element-specific detector Inductively Coupled Plasma
Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) for the determination of the mass fraction of inorganic arsenic.
The other standards developed for determination of inorganic arsenic content in animal feeding stuffs,
foodstuffs and plant biostimulants were studied as a basis of the described method [2], [3], [4], [5], [6].
1 Scope
This document specifies a method for extraction, separation, and determination of inorganic arsenic (iAs)
in growing media and soil improvers using anion-exchange high performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC) or ion chromatography (IC) coupled to ICP-MS.
This document is applicable to the fertilizing product blends where a blend is a mix of two or more
fertilising products belonging to the categories of fertilizers, liming material, soil improvers, growing
media, inhibitors and plant biostimulants, and where soil improvers and/or growing media are the
components with the highest percentage in the blend by mass or volume, or in the case of products in
liquid form by dry mass. If the soil improvers and/or growing media are not the components with the
highest percentage in the blend, the document relevant to the component with the highest percentage in
the blend applies. In case a blend is composed of fertilising products mixed in equal quantities, the user
of the document decides which standard to apply.
NOTE A soil improver consists of a single bulky (volume-building) component or a mix of bulky (volume-
building) components (for example peat, wood fibres, coconut coir, compost, expanded perlite).
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
CEN/TS 17732:2022, Soil improvers and growing media - Terminology
EN 12579:2024, Soil improvers and growing media - Sampling
prEN 13040-1:2025, Soil improvers and growing media — Sample preparation — Part 1: Sample
preparation for chemical and physical tests, determination of dry matter content, moisture content and
laboratory bulk density
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in CEN/TS 17732:2022 and the
following apply.
3.1
analyte
parameter to be determined
3.2
blank calibration solution
solution prepared in the same way as the calibration solution but leaving out the analytes
3.3
blank test solution
solution prepared in the same way as the test sample solution but omitting the test portion
3.4
calibration solution
solution used to calibrate the instrument, prepared from stock solutions by adding acids, buffer, reference
element and salts as needed
3.5
stock solution
solution with accurately known analyte concentration(s), prepared from pure chemicals
4 Principle
This document describes a method for the determination of inorganic arsenic in growing media and soil
improvers. Inorganic arsenic consists of arsenite As (III) and arsenate As (V). A representative test
portion of the sample is treated with a diluted nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide solution in a heated
water bath. By this means the sample is solubilised, arsenic species are extracted into solution and As (III)
is oxidized to As (V). The inorganic arsenic is selectively separated from other arsenic compounds using
anion exchange HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) coupled online to the element-specific
detector ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer) for the determination of the mass
fraction of the inorganic arsenic. External calibration with solvent matrix-matched standards is used for
the quantification of the amount of the inorganic arsenic. Alternatively, IC (ion chromatography) coupled
to ICP-MS may be used.
A preliminary determination of the total arsenic in aqua regia extracts according to prEN 13650:2025 by
ICP-AES (WI 00223142:2025), can reduce the number of the samples where the determination of iAs is
necessary because if the content of aqua regia (total) extractable arsenic is lower than the legislative limit
for iAs (e.g. [8]) then the determination of iAs is not necessary.
To prove the compliance with existing limit values for inorganic arsenic in soil improvers and growing
media, there is the possibility to choose between:
— Using a testing method determining the aqua regia (total) extractable arsenic content, as long as the
result of the test shows a content below the
...
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