Neutron activation analysis of arsenic in rocks and sediments by direct evolution with chloride- and bromide-condensed phosphoric acid reagents

A simple method is presented for the determination of arsenic in rocks and in sediments by neutron activation. After irradiating a sample it is, without any other treatment, directly heated in condensed phosphoric acid containing sodium chloride or sodium bromide to evolve arsenic as arsenic(III) chloride or bromide. The distillate is absorbed in distilled water, in which arsenic is later precipitated in elementary form by adding hypophosphite to the solution. From arsenite, arsenic(III) oxide, arsenate and arsenic(III) sulphide, arsenic chloride can be evolved with NaCl-CPA reagent, but elementary arsenic and arsenic(V) oxide do not react with it. However, metallic arsenic is found to react with KIO₃-NaCl-CPA and arsenic(V) oxide with the NaBr-CPA, both both evolving arsenic(III) chloride or bromide. Therefore, successive distillations, the first with NaCl-CPA and the second with NaBr-CPA, give a satisfactory means of differential determination of arsenic(III) and arsenate as well as arsenic(V) oxide. For the elementary arsenic a problem still now remains. The chemical recovery of carrier goes well beyond 95%. Part of this work was performed at the Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University.     

A neutron activation analysis of selenium,arsenic and antimony in rocks and sediments by simultaneous evolution with bromide-strong phosphoric acid reagent

A rapid and sensitive method for the neutron activation analysis of selenium, arsenic, and antimony is described. These elements and their compounds present in rocks and sediments were simultaneously evolved as their gaseous bromides from sodium bromide-strong phosphoric acid medium only by heating the irradiated samples in the medium. The evolved gas was absorbed in an appropriate absorption solution and then each element was finally recovered as metals for selenium and arsenic, and as sulphide for antimony. The preferable conditions for the distillation and for the separation of these elements are discussed. The method thus established was applied for the activation analyses of rocks and of river sediments, and profitable data were obtained. Part of this work was performed at the Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University.     

Separation and determination of ruthenium by evolution with chromium(VI)-condensed phosphoric acid reagent

Ruthenium in various chemical forms can be evolved as the tetroxide from insoluble matrix materials by heating the sample with chromium(VI)-condensed phosphoric acid reagent (abbreviated as Cr(VI)-CPA). Because of its excellent decomposing power for various solid samples, condensed phosphoric acid is very useful in the chemical analysis of various insoluble materials, and when an oxidizing agent such as potassium dichromate is added in the CPA medium, drastic oxidation proceeds on heating. This method is now extended to the separation of ruthenium from marine sediments. During the reaction with Cr(VI)-CPA ruthenium tetroxide is evolved and collected in an absorbent solution of 6M hydrochloric acid and ethanol (1:1), and the ruthenium is then determined spectrophotometrically with thiourea or radiometrically by counting the beta or gamma-activity. Osmium, which can be evolved as the tetroxide by the same treatment, can be eliminated beforehand by heating the sample with Ce(IV)-CPA, which removes osmium but not ruthenium. The successive distillations by means of Ce(IV)-CPA and Cr(VI)-CPA give satisfactory results for the separation between osmium and ruthenium. This method might be useful for the separation of ruthenium in geochemical or neutron-activation analysis.     

Separation and determination of uranium in phosphoric acid medium using high-performance ion chromatography

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - A new method is presented for measuring of uranium at low levels in crude phosphoric acid without preconcentration or complexing agents using...     

Trace element determination in rocks and sediments by neutron activation analysis

Neutron activation analysis (NAA) is one of the most used analytical techniques for trace element determination in rocks, because time consuming operations are avoided. We have analyzed different types of USGS reference materials (G-2, GSP-1, BHVO-1, STM-1, GXR-3, GXR-4, GXR-5), using both thermal (TNAA) and epithermal neutrons (ENAA). ENAA has been used to reduce interferences due to Sc-46 and to other high activities. The following elements have shown an improvement when analyzed by ENAA: Ba, Cs, Gd, Rb, Sb, Sr, Ta, Tb, Th, Tm, U, Yb, Zr; better results were found for Ce, Co, Cr, Eu, Fe, Hf, La, Lu, Na, Nd, Sc, Zn with TNAA. The accuracy of both methods has been tested comparing our results with some published values. The agreement is in general very good. The precision also is satisfactory, being for many elements better than 10%. After these tests, a study on some rock samples from the basaltic plateau of Kenya, east of Gregory Rift, has been performed by ENAA. Among the elements determined in this work, the rare earch elements (REE) can give significant petrogenetic information, by means of their distribution and fractionation in the rocks. The main parameters investigated are the degree of fractionation of light (La to Eu) relative to heavy (Gd to Lu) REE and the occurence of Eu anomalies, when the REE concentrations are compared to chondritic values. The evaluation of detection limits by TNAA has been performed for REE in sediment samples from Thyrrenian Sea (Central Italy).     

Spectrophotometric determination of formaldehyde with chromotropic acid in phosphoric acid medium assisted by microwave oven

In the present study, a spectrophotometric method for the determination of formaldehyde by using chromotropic acid was devised, in which the use of potentially hazardous and corrosive concentrated sulfuric acid was eliminated and advantageously replaced by a mixture of H₃PO₄ and H₂O₂. The reaction between formaldehyde and chromotropic acid (CA) in a concentrated phosphoric acid medium was accelerate by irradiating the mixture with microwave energy for 35 s (1100 W), producing a violet-red compound (λ_max=570 nm). Beer's Law is obeyed in a concentration range of 0.8-4.8 mg l⁻¹ of formaldehyde with a good correlation coefficient (r=0.9968). The proposed method was applied in the analysis of formaldehyde in commercial disinfectants. Recoveries were within 98.0-100.4%, with standard deviations ranging from 0.03 to 0.13%.     

The determination of selenium in sea water,silicates and marine organisms

Spectrophotometric procedures are described for the determination of selenium in sea water, silicates (especially marine sediments) and marine organisms. Coprecipitation with iron(III) hydroxide at pH 4–6 is used to concentrate selenium and to separate it from many of the commoner elements. Separation from iron and other cations is achieved by ion exchange. Selenium is determined photometrically with diaminobenzidine. Isotope dilution with selenium-75 is used to correct results for the small losses occurring during the analysis. Silicates can be decomposed without loss of selenium by means of a mixture of hydrofluoric and nitric acids. The method of Cummins et al., with sulphuric and perchloric acids in presence of molybdate ion, is highly satisfactory for the decomposition of bio-materials. For sea water, which contains ca. 0.4–0.5 <mg Se/l, a standard deviation of 0.03 μg/l was obtained. A silicate sediment and a sea weed containing ca. 1.5 μg Se/g and 0.8 μg Se/g respectively gave coefficients of variation of 8.0% and 4.7%. The U.S. Geological Survey standard granite G1 was found to contain 2.5 ± 0.1 μg Se/g.     

The determination of arsenic in rocks,sediments and minerals by arsine generation and atomic absorption spectrometry

An arsine generation-atomic absorption method for the rapid and precise determination of 0.04–4000 p.p.m. arsenic in geological materials is described. The siliceous sample is decomposed with perchloric, nitric and hydrofluoric acids and potassium permanganate solution, and the residue is dissolved in dilute hydrochloric acid. Arsine is generated with potassium iodide, tin(II) chloride and zinc powder, and introduced to an argon—hydrogen flame. The method is applied to various standard rocks, NBS mineral standards, and geochemical exploration samples. The relative standard deviation is 4–14 %.     

Slurry sampling for determination of lead in marine plankton by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

A slurry sampling method has been developed for the determination of Pb in marine plankton by ETAAS using a freshwater plankton certified reference material (CRM 414). Slurries were prepared in 1–3% m/v range with 1% v/v HNO₃ by ultrasonic agitation for 5 min. The effects of several chemical modifiers, including Ir(NO₃)₂, Mg(NO₃)₂, Pd(NO₃)₂, Pd(NO₃)₂ + Mg(NO₃)₂, and Mg(NO₃)₂ + NH₄H₂PO₄, were investigated for the stabilization of Pb during thermal pretreatment. Lead in slurries was effectively stabilized up to 1000 °C with Ir, Pd and Pd + Mg modifiers among which Pd + Mg provided the best results with complete atomization at 1850 °C. Firings in the presence of Ir were, problematic due to ash formation inside the atomizer. Water, dilute HNO₃ and HF were examined as suspension medium. Dilute HNO₃ (1–2% v/v) proved to be advantageous over water as it afforded extraction of Pb from plankton almost quantitatively in 5 min agitation. Hydrofluoric acid was the least suitable medium. Increasing HF concentration up to 5% v/v resulted in inaccuracy and substantial background absorption. Fast-heating furnace method provided comparable accuracy and precision to that of conventional-heating in slurries of CRM 414. Detection limits and characteristic masses were, respectively, 0.49 μg L^− 1 and 32 pg for the conventional method and 0.62 μg L^− 1 and 37 pg for the fast-heating method. However, fast-heating approach suffered from distorted peaks at high temperatures and incomplete pyrolysis of matrix at lower temperatures. Analysis of marine plankton samples for Pb was performed by using the conventional furnace program. The results showed a high correlation with those obtained by solution ICP-MS. Differences were statistically insignificant within 95% confidence interval.     

Separation of niobium and tantalum by extraction chromatography with bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid

A novel method is developed for the reversed-phase extractive chromatographic separation of niobium and tantalum with bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid. Niobium is extracted from 1-10M hydrochloric acid and can be stripped with 3M sulphuric acid containing 2% hydrogen peroxide. Tantalum is extracted from 0.1-2M hydrochloric acid and can be stripped with 0.1M hydrochloric acid containing 2M tartaric acid. It is possible to separate niobium and tantalum, in different ratios, from multicomponent mixtures.