Beryllium is an important analyte in industrial hygiene because of the risk of exposed workers developing Chronic Beryllium Disease (CBD). CBD is a granulomatous lung disease that is caused by the body's immune system response to inhaled dust or fumes containing beryllium, a human carcinogen (2). Surface wipe samples and air filter samples are collected to monitor the workplace. This practice addresses the problem of spurious results caused by the presence of interfering elements in the solution analyzed. The practice has been evaluated for all elements having emission spectra near the 313.042 and 313.107 nm beryllium lines, as well as elements of general concern including aluminum, calcium, iron and lead. Below is a table listing each possible spectrally interfering element:

Measurement of beryllium on the order of 1 ppb (0.003 µg Be/100 cm² wipe sample) has been successfully accomplished in the presence of spectrally interfering elements on the order of hundreds of ppm. This method has been validated on matrices containing 10 mg of each of the above elements. In some cases including interferents such as chromium and calcium, the single 2 mL beryllium extraction chromatography resin can handle >100 mg of total dissolved solids and still deliver >90 % beryllium yield. Should the matrix contain greater amounts of contaminants, additional resin may be used or, more likely, a combination of different resins may be used. (3,4).