What is BS EN 13656 about?
BS EN 13656 discusses soil, treated biowaste, sludge and waste. BS EN 13656 specifies three methods for the digestion of soil, treated biowaste, sludge and waste using an acid mixture composed of hydrochloric (HCl), nitric (HNO3) and tetrafluoroboric (HBF4) or hydrochloric (HCl), nitric (HNO3) and hydrofluoric (HF) acid as the digestion solution.
BS EN 13656 is applicable for the elements such as Aluminium (Al), antimony (Sb), arsenic (As), barium (Ba), beryllium (Be), cadmium (Cd), calcium (Ca), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), lead (Pb), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), mercury (Hg), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), selenium (Se), silver (Ag), sodium (Na), strontium (Sr), sulfur (S), tellurium (Te), thallium (Tl), tin (Sn), titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), and zinc (Zn).
Note 1: BS EN 13656 can also be applied for the digestion of other elements, provided the user has verified the applicability.
Who is BS EN 13656 for?
BS EN 13656 on soil, treated biowaste, sludge and waste is useful for:
- Researchers involved in soil sciences
- Analytical laboratories involved in soil sciences
- Ecologists and conservationists
Why should you use BS EN 13656?
Soil, treated biowaste, and sludge need to be disposed of responsibly. There are options available for doing this with chemical digestion. Digestion with these acids is effectively considered as a total decomposition of the sample.
BS EN 13656 provides methods that specify multi-element digestion of soil, treated biowaste, sludge and waste before analysis. Elements extractable by this procedure can in many instances be described as “total”, although this will be sample dependent. On the other hand, they cannot be regarded as available for leaching, as the extraction procedure is too vigorous to represent natural processes.
Due to safety considerations, the digestion with HCl, HNO3 and HBF4 is strongly recommended over the much more hazardous digestion using HCl, HNO3 and HF. Responsible waste management is significant to defend the environment and health of the population.
What’s changed since the last update?
BS EN 13656:2020 supersedes EN 13656:2002.
The main changes compared to the previous version are as follows:
- Addition of HBF4 as acid. For safety reasons the use of HBF4 is preferred over HF
- Addition of a heating block digestion procedure
- Addition of a microwave digestion procedure temperature-controlled
- Removal of the microwave digestion with a semi-open vessel system
