Abstract: An analytical method was established for the determination of four major metal elements (Na, Mg, K, and Ca) and ten trace metal elements (Al, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, Sr, Cd, Ba, and Pb) in beer by microwave plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (MP-AES). The samples were microwave digested using HNO3 in closed digestion vessels. The spectral interferences were corrected by selecting a suitable wavelength as well as using fast linear interference correction (FLIC). The matrix effect was corrected by using internal standard elements. Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to analyze the same sample solution to demonstrate the accuracy of the method. Under the optimized conditions, the limits of detection (LODs) for the analytes were in the range of 0.13–230 μg/L. The spiked recoveries ranged from 95.6% to 104% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 1.8%–4.0%. All the major and trace metal elements were successfully determined in beer samples by the MP-AES method and the results obtained were identical to those obtained by ICP-MS. The method has the characteristics of simple and fast operation, good stability, low running cost and good accuracy, and is suitable for high throughput analysis of multiple metal elements in beer.

Key words: beer; microwave plasma atomic emission spectroscopy; metal element; microwave digestion; interference