This European Standard specifies two methods for digestion of sludge, treated biowaste and soil by the use of aqua regia as digestion solution.

This European Standard is applicable for the following elements:

Aluminium (Al), antimony (Sb), arsenic (As), barium (Ba), beryllium (Be), bismuth (Bi), boron (B), cadmium (Cd), calcium (Ca), cerium (Ce), cesium (Cs), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), dysprosium (Dy), erbium (Er), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), gallium (Ga), germanium (Ge), gold (Au), hafnium (Hf), holmium (Ho), indium (In), iridium (Ir), iron (Fe), lanthanum (La), lead (Pb), lithium (Li), lutetium (Lu), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), mercury (Hg), molybdenum (Mo), neodymium (Nd), nickel (Ni), palladium (Pd), phosphorus (P), platinum (Pt), potassium (K), praseodymium (Pr), rubidium (Rb), rhenium (Re), rhodium (Rh), ruthenium (Ru), samarium (Sm), scandium (Sc), selenium (Se), silicon (Si), silver (Ag), sodium (Na), strontium (Sr), sulphur (S), tellurium (Te), terbium (Tb), thallium (Tl), thorium (Th), thulium (Tm), tin (Sn), titanium (Ti), tungsten (W), uranium (U), vanadium (V), ytterbium (Yb), yttrium (Y), zinc (Zn), and zirconium (Zr).

This European Standard may also be applicable for the digestion of other elements.

Digestion with aqua regia will not necessarily accomplish total decomposition of the sample. The extracted analyte concentrations may not necessarily reflect the total content in the sample.