Melamine leached from tableware usually exists in low level, and tableware made by different companies often shows different leaching behavior. It is desirable to concentrate the extracted solution to enhance the sensitivity. In our study, two concentration procedures were studied. One procedure was performed by concentrating the extracted solution directly by a rotary evaporator at 60 C. The recoveries obtained under this condition were less than 20%. Lower the temperature to 50 C, no improvement in recovery was observed. The other concentration procedure was performed
after acidifying the extracted solution to pH < 3. The results were satisfying with recoveries of higher than 90%. A possible reason for the low recovery of the first approach might be caused by the decomposition of melamine during the rotary evaporating process with no protection of nitrogen gas. Besides, the sublimation temperature of melamine might decrease under high vacuum, which further increased the loss of melamine. On the contrary, in acidic condition, melamine was existed in stable salt form and less loss was observed. Therefore, melamine solutions should be
adjusted to acidic pH value before the concentration process.