Multielemental determination in water by neutron activation analysis

Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) technique has been applied to a water sample to determine the elemental concentrations. The sample was irradiated at a neutron flux of 1.2·10¹² n·cm^–2·s^–1 for two different periods followed by counting at three different decay times, using two coaxial type high-resolution Ge(Li) detectors. The dominant elements detected in the water sample are Ca, Cl, Na, Mg, and K present in levels while Co, I, Mn, Sm, and Sb are present in smaller amounts approximately on the average 0.01 ppm. Only traces of other elements such as rare-earth elements, Ag, As, Ba, Cu, Cd, Fe, Sr, W, Zn, seem to be present in the water samples.     

Multielement determination in water by instrumental neutron activation analysis

Instrumental neutron activation analysis /INAA/ technique has been applied to a water sample to determine the elemental concentrations. The sample was irradiated with a neutron flux of 1.2×10¹² n cm^–2 s^–1 for two different periods followed by counting at three different decay times, using two coaxial type high-resolution Ge/Li/ detectors. The dominant elements determined in the water sample are Ca, Cl, Na, Mg, and K present in ppm-level while Co, I, Mn, Sm, and Sb are present in smaller amounts, approximately on the average 0.01 ppm. Only traces of other elements such as the rare-earth elements, Ag, As, Ba, Cu, Cd, Fe, Sr, W, Zn, seem to be present in the water sample.     

Multielement determination in river water by neutron activation analysis

Concentrations of Al, Br, Ca, Ce, Co, Cr, Eu, Fe, Hf, La, Lu, Mg, Mn, Na, Rb, Sc, Sm, Sr, Tb, Th, Ti, V, Yb, Zn, and Zr have been measured in Tigris and Euphrates river water, using neutron activation analysis in combination with preconcentration technique. River water samples were preconcentrated by evaporation at 70°C under atmospheric pressure. The samples with standard reference materials were irradiated with a neutron flux of 2.3·10¹³ n·cm^–2·s^–1.     

The determination of inorganic arsenic in water by thermal neutron activation analysis

A simple method is presented for the determination of inorganic arsenic in water samples. The lower limit of determination is 0.01 μg·1⁻¹. Penta-and trivalent arsenic ions as well as arsenic acid substituted with aromatic ligands are collected by coprecipitation with Fe(OH)₃. After irradiation the arsenic is separated from the iron by adsorption to Al₂O₃. The overall efficiency is (97∓1)%. The procedure takes one day per ∼20 samples. It has been checked by standard addition. Data for sea- and surface-water are given. As the concentration of aromatic arsenic-compounds is very small in comparison to that of the inorganic species, it does not affect the result of the determination.     

The determination of sampling constants by neutron activation analysis

It has been found that sampling constants vary greatly not only from major elements to trace elements, but also between individual trace elements. A comprehensive investigation of a potential reference material therefore requires the determination of sampling constants for all elements to be certified, and other analytical methods therefore have to be included. For methods in statistical control the described strategy can be applied.     

A neutron activation procedure for the determination of dissolved silver in sea water

A neutron activation procedure has been developed for the determination of silver in sea water. The element is preconcentrated by an anion-exchange procedure. The concentrate is submitted to irradiation with thermal neutrons. Silver-11Om is separated from other radionuclides by means of a conventional radiochemical separation scheme. The method gave a coefficient of variation of ± 10% at a silver level of 40 ng l^?1.     

The determination of bromine in rocks by neutron activation analysis

A neutron activation method for the determination of bromine in rocks and minerals is described. After removal of iodine, bromine is separated by oxidation with potassium permanganate and extraction with carbon tetrachloride. Bromine is thon precipitated as silver bromide; yields are from 60 to 84%. The method has a sensitivity of 0.001 p.p.m. of bromine and is free from interfering reactions. The values obtained for G-1 and W-1, 0.484 and 0.490 p.p.m. of bromine respectively, are lower than the average values for granites and basalts previously reported.     

The determination of manganese in seawater,surface water and rainwater by neutron activation analysis

A rapid procedure for the determination of manganese in seawater, surface water and rainwater is presented. The method is based on preconcentration of manganese as the pyrrolidine-dithiocarbamate (APDC) complex on a layer of active carbon and determination of the manganese in the carbon concentrate by neutron activation analysis. Provided the blank of the carbon can be kept low the limit of determination is 50 ng Mn·l⁻¹, when a sample of 200 ml is processed.     

The determination of rhenium in flue dust by neutron activation analysis

Rhenium was determined by radiochemical neutron activation analysis in flue dust samples of complex chemical composition. Two separation techniques were used; distillation from perchloric-hydrochloric acid solution and hydroxide scavenging followed by extraction with tetraphenylarsonium chloride in chloroform. ¹⁸⁶Re and ¹⁸⁸Re were measured with a Ge(Li) low-energy photon detector. Chemical yields were determined by reactivation. For a neutron flux of 5·10¹¹ n cm^-2 s^-1, an irradiation time of 6 h and samples of ca. l g, down to 50 p.p.b. of rhenium could be determined.     

The determination of chromium in water samples by neutron activation analysis after preconcentration on activated carbon

A method is presented for the determination of chromium in sea-and fresh water. Chromium is concentrated on activated carbon from neutral solution after a previous reduction of chromate with sodium sulfite at pH 1.5. The final determination of the total chromium content is performed by instrumental neutron activation analysis. By preconcentration on activated carbon a differentiation between tervalent and hexavalent chromium is possible. A separate determination of both species is not yet feasible due to the high carbon blank and to the necessity of measuring the adsorption percentage on carbon. The lower limit of determination, which depends on the value of the carbon blank, is 0.05 μg Cr·1⁻¹ with a precision of 20%.     

The determination of nickel in air dust by neutron activation analysis

The determination of nickel in atmospheric aerosols, collected on filter paper, is performed by thermal neutron activation analysis using the⁶⁵Ni (T=2.56 h) isotope. Liquid-liquid extraction and anion-exchange are applied in the chemical separation. The absolute sensitivity of the method is ≌0.02 μg Ni. The relative sensitivity is 0.005 μg Ni/m³ if an air sample of about 1000 m³ is used.     

The determination of fluorine in bone by fast neutron activation analysis

A routine method is presented for the determination of fluorine in small bone samples by activation analysis with fast conversion neutrons. Both the purely instrumental determination and the analysis by chemical separation are discussed. The activations are performed with the AVF cyclotron of Philips-Duphar at Petten. Use was made of a rabbit system equipped with a Be-target, which can be inserted in the internally deflected beam of the cyclotron. The sensitivity of the instrumental method is ≈1 μg. Application of chemical isolation results in a sensitivity of ≈0.1 μg.     

Substoichiometric determination of gold by neutron activation analysis

A rapid method has been developed for the determination of gold in catalyst samples by thermal neutron-activation analysis incorporating substoichiometric solvent extraction of Au/III/ with 1,2,3-benzotriazole /1,2,3-BT/ into n-butanol. The time required for radiochemical purification and counting of two samples and a standard was 1 h.     

Substoichiometric determination of Cd by neutron activation analysis

A rapid method has been developed for the determination of cadmium in environmental samples by thermal neutron activation analysis involving substoichiometric extraction with 1,2,3-benzotriazole /1,2,3-BT/. Cd was radiochemically separated as CdS using 1-amidino-2-thiourea. The time required for radiochemical purification containing two samples and a standard was about 2 h. 4.63 g of Cd can be determined with an accuracy of 6.69% and precision of 6.25%. Mash potatoes, animal bones, raw sludge and cattle manure have been analyzed by this method.     

Substoichiometric determination of chromium by neutron activation analysis

A method of radioactivation analysis has been developed for the determination of chromium. It is based on the substoichiometric extraction of chromium diethyldithio-carbamate into methyl-isobutyl-ketone from acetate buffer solution in the presence of EDTA and potassium cyanide. The method has been applied for the determination of chromium in high-purity calcium carbonate and NBS glasses as standard reference materials.     

Substoichiometric determination of palladium by neutron activation analysis

A method is described for the substoichiometric determination of traces of palladium by neutron activation analysis involving the extraction of palladium with isonitrosoacetophenone. The sensitivity of the method is 0.005 μg of Pd. With 200 mg of silver alloy containing 0.0005% palladium, the average of three determinations of Pd is 0.98 μg, which varies between 1.07 μg and 0.91 μg at 95% confidence limit. The time required for radiochemical purification and counting of the sample does not exceed 12 minutes. Part of this work was presented at the International Conference on Modern Trends Activation Analysis, held in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA, October 7–11, 1968.     

Substoichiometric determination of mercury by neutron activation analysis

A method has been developed for the substoichiometric determination of mercury by thermal neutron activation analysis, based on the selective extraction of the Hg(II)—Bindschedler's Green complex into 1,2-dichloroethane. The method has been applied for the determination of trace amounts of mercury in geological standards such as W-1, GR, Sye-1, and T-1, meteorite Allende de Publito, and biological materials such as kale, IR1 standard tobacco, and human blood serum.     

Substoichiometric determination of tungsten by neutron activation analysis

A method for the substoichiometric determination of tungsten by thermal neutron activation analysis has been developed based on the selective extraction of the tungsten dithiol complex into amyl acetate. The method is simple, rapid and accurate. It has been used in the determination of tungsten in alloy steel, meteorites and biological standard kale.     

Ion-chromatographic determination of iodide in sea water with UV detection

A highly sensitive and selective ion-chromatographic procedure with UV detection at 227 nm was developed for the determination of trace amounts of iodide. The procedure utilizes 0.1M NaOH as eluent, which enables the determination of 1–100 g I^–1 I^– with a precision of ca. 6%. 1000-fold amounts of other anions such as fluoride, chloride, phosphate, sulphate, bromide, nitrite and nitrate do not interfere. The method has been applied to determine iodide in sea water samples from the Indian coast.     

Multielemental determination in some water samples by neutron activation method

A method was developed for the determination of element concentrations in structured water samples (water with high oligoelements content). Sixteen elements (As, Br, Ca, Ce, Co, Cr, Eu, Fe, K, La, Lu, Na, Sb, Sc, Sm, Zn) were determined in 4 structured water samples and one taken from the water tap. The samples were preconcentrated evaporating 1 1 at atmospheric pressure and obtaining 100–500 mg of dry residue. Measurement accuracy by -spectroscopy was 3–30% and it can be improved by increasing the measurement time. The method allows simultaneous multielement analysis of various water sources and may successfully be used in environmental pollution control.