Elemental Analysis of Wines Using Photon Induced X-Ray Fluorescence

Abstract

An energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence system was used to determine simultaneously phosphorus, sulfur, chlorine and potassium contents in red and white wines. Repetitive analysis tested the high accuracy and reproducibility of the method. Three different wine preparation methods, namely, untreated, evaporated and ashed, were compared. Ashed wine samples are considerably lower in P, S and Cl contents than the untreated or evaporated ones; however, no significant difference was found among the three methods for the determination of K. Ashing of wine samples caused a partial loss of P, S and Cl due to their volatility at high temperatures.

Untreated Canadian, French, Hungarian and Italian red wine samples showed no significant difference for their P, S, Cl and K content, while in evaporated and ashed samples, only K content was significantly different. No significant difference was found between Canadian and Hungarian white wines analyzed by the three methods and their mean concentrations (g/L) were 0.17; 0.28; 0.05 and 0.41 for P, S, Cl and K, respectively.