Spectrophotometric determination of tungsten in ores and steel by chloroform extraction of the tungsten-thiocyanate-diantipyrylmethane complex

A method for determining up to about 6% of tungsten in ores and mill products is described. It is based on the extraction of the yellow tungsten(V)-thiocyanate-diantipyrylmethane ion-association complex into chloroform from a 2.4M sulphuric acid-7.8M hydrochloric acid medium containing ammonium hydrogen fluoride as masking agent for niobium. The molar absorptivity of the complex is 1510 1. mole(-1).mm(-1) at 404 nm, the wavelength of maximum absorption. Moderate amounts of molybdenum and selenium may be present in the sample solution without causing appreciable error in the result. Interference from large amounts is avoided by separating these elements from tungsten by chloroform extraction of their xanthate complexes. Large amounts of copper interfere during the extraction of tungsten because of the precipitation of cuprous thiocyanate. Common ions, including uranium, vanadium, cobalt, titanium, arsenic and tellurium, do not interfere. The proposed method is also applicable to steel.     

Extraction and determination of iron as the bathophenanthroline complex in high-purity niobium, tantalum, molybdenum and tungsten metals

A spectrophotometric method for determining iron in the range 0·001–0·125% in high-purity niobium, tantalum, molybdenum and tungsten metals is described. After sample dissolution and reduction of iron to the bivalent state with ascorbic acid and hydroxylamine hydrochloride, the red complex formed between iron^II and bathophenanthroline (4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline) is extracted into n-arnyl alcohol and the absorbance of the resulting extract is determined at 536 mμ. Interference from copper is eliminated with thiourea. Cobalt, cadmium, nickel, manganese and zinc also interfere but the amounts of each of these impurities present in the four high-purity metals described are so low that their interference effects are negligible in the proposed method. Highly reproducible and precise results can be obtained with careful control of the pH during reduction and extraction.     

Determination of Co, Cu, Fe, Ga, W, and Zn in rocks by neutron activation and anion-exchange separation

A neutron-activation method for the simultaneous determination of cobalt, copper, gallium, iron, tungsten and zinc in rocks is described. The method is based on anion-excbange separation in hydrochloric acid media. Chemical yield is higher than 97% for all elements, except for tungsten, where the recovery of the carrier is established by re-activation. The precision is about 1-3% for the iron determination and about 3% for cobalt, copper, gallium and zinc.     

Determination of cobalt, nickel, lead, bismuth and indium in ores, soils and related materials by atomic-absorption spectrometry after separation by xanthate extraction

A method for determining approximately 0.5, mug/g or more of cobalt, nickel and lead and approximately 3 mug/g or more of bismuth and indium in ores, soils and related materials is described. After sample decomposition and dissolution of the salts in dilute hydrochloric-tartaric acid solution, iron(III) is reduced with ascorbic acid and the resultant iron(II) is complexed with ammonium fluoride. Cobalt, nickel, lead, bismuth and indium are subsequently separated from iron, aluminium, zinc and other matrix elements by a triple chloroform extraction of their xanthate complexes at pH 2.00 +/- 0.05. After the removal of chloroform by evaporation and the destruction of the xanthates with nitric and perchloric acids, the solution is evaporated to dryness and the individual elements are ultimately determined in a 20% v/v hydrochloric acid medium containing 1000 mug/ml potassium by atomic-absorption spectrometry with an air-acetylene flame. Co-extraction of arsenic and antimony is avoided by volatilizing them as the bromides during the decomposition step. Small amounts of co-extracted molybdenum, iron and copper do not interfere.     

Extractive separation and spectrophotometric determination of tungsten as ferrocyanide

Tungsten, in amounts ranging from micrograms to milligrams, can be extracted into isoamyl alcohol, as the tungsten(V) ferrocyanide complex obtained by reduction of tungsten(VI) with tin(II) in 4M hydrochloric acid containing ferrocyanide. It can thus be separated from iron, cobalt, chromium, manganese, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, silicon, calcium and copper, their precipitation being prevented by addition of glycerol and, in the case of iron, sulphosalicyclic acid. Molybdenum, vanadium and nickel are not separated from tungsten, however. Tungsten can also be determined spectrophotometrically as tungsten(V) ferrocyanide. The absorbance of the brown complex is measured in aqueous solution or preferably after extraction into isoamyl alcohol. As many alloying elements interfere, they should be separated by the ferrocyanide extraction or other suitable method. Both the separation and the determination methods give satisfactory results with an overall error of not more than 0.5% in the analysis of practical samples containing low or high percentages of tungsten.     

Determination of titanium in high-purity molybdenum and tungsten metals with diantipyrylmethane after separation by extraction of its cupferron complex

A method for determining 0.0005–0.10% of titanium in high-purity molybdenum and tungsten metals is described. After sample dissolution, titanium is separated from the matrix materials by chloroform extraction of its cupferronate from an alkaline (pH 8) tartrate-EDTA medium, then determined spectrophotometrically with diantipyrylmethane at 390 nm. Interference from manganese during extraction is eliminated with sodium sulphite. Iron, zirconium, thorium, tin, aluminium and antimony are partially extracted under the proposed conditions, but moderate amounts of these elements may be present in the sample solution without causing error in the results. Interference from iron(III) during colour development is eliminated with ascorbic acid. Other impurities in the two high-purity metals described do not interfere in the proposed method.     

Extraction and spectrophotometric determination of cobalt(ii) with 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone

The rapid extraction and simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of mg amounts of cobalt(II) by means of 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone is described. The yellow cobalt(II)-TTA chelate solution in acetone-benzene obeys Beer's law at 430 mμ over the range 12 to 51 μg of cobalt(II) per ml. At pH 5.1–6.8 a single extraction with 0.15 M TTA in acetone is satisfactory. The system is stable for 96 h. Silver, zirconium, strontium, thorium, zinc, lead(II) and mercury(II) do not interfere.     

Quantitative separation of zinc traces from cadmium matrices by solid-phase extraction with polyurethane foam

A system for separation of zinc traces from large amounts of cadmium is proposed in this paper. It is based on the solid-phase extraction of the zinc in the form of thiocyanate complexes by the polyurethane foam. The following parameters were studied: effect of pH and of the thiocyanate concentration on the zinc extraction, shaking time required for quantitative extraction, amount of PU foam necessary for complete extraction, conditions for the separation of zinc from cadmium, influence of other cations and anions on the zinc sorption by PU foam, and required conditions for back extraction of zinc from the PU foam. The results show that zinc traces can be separated from large amounts of cadmium at pH 3.0±0.50, with the range of thiocyanate concentration from 0.15 to 0.20 mol l⁻¹, and the shaking time of 5 min. The back extraction of zinc can be done by shaking it with water for 10 min. Calcium, barium, strontium, magnesium, aluminum, nickel and iron(II) are efficiently separated. Iron(III), copper(II) and cobalt(II) are extracted simultaneously with zinc, but the iron reduction with ascorbic acid and the use of citrate to mask copper(II) and cobalt(II) increase the selectivity of the zinc extraction. The anions nitrate, chloride, sulfate, acetate, thiosulphate, tartarate, oxalate, fluoride, citrate, and carbonate do not affect the zinc extraction. Phosphate and EDTA must be absent. The method proposed was applied to determine zinc in cadmium salts using 4-(2-pyridylazo)-resorcinol (PAR) as a spectrophotometric reagent. The result achieved did not show significant difference in the accuracy and precision (95% confidence level) with those obtained by ICP–AES analysis.     

Analytical separation of rhenium by extraction with n-benzylaniline in chloroform from sulphuric acid media

Analytical separation of rhenium(VII) is achieved by solvent extraction with N-benzylaniline in chloroform from sulphuric acid media. Few cations interfere: common anions such as phosphate, tartrate, citrate, oxalate, fluoride, EDTA and ascorbic acid do not interfere. A simple method is described for the separation of micro amounts of rhenium from macro amounts of molybdenum, tungsten, niobium and tantalum. The method also separates rhenium from V, Cr, Se, Te, Os, Ru, Rh, Pd and Pt. The molar absorptivity of rhenium thiocyanate complex in butyl acetate and diisopropyl ether is 40280 ± 280 at 430 nm.     

The analysis of beryllium and beryllium oxide—IV The determination of cobalt

A method is described for the determination of cobalt in beryllium or beryllium oxide by extraction of the cobalt thiocyanate complex with acetylacetone (2:4-pentanedione). The method is accurate to ±2% or 2 μg of cobalt, whichever is greater. Of the 68 elements investigated only manganese and chromium interfere in 10 mg amounts. No interference was observed when 1g of each had been removed by ion-exchange or volatilisation (of chromium only) before extraction.     

Ultraviolet spectrophotometric determination of tungsten(VI) with ammonium 1-pyrrolidinecarbodithioate

A simple and rapid ultraviolet spectrophotometric method is proposed for the determination of trace amounts of tungsten(VI) with ammonium 1-pyrrolidinecarbodithioate (APDC). The method is based on measurement of the absorbance of the tungsten APDC complex in fairly concentrated hydrochloric acid medium; no extraction is required. The complex is formed at an initial acidity of 6M hydrochloric acid and has an absorption maximum at 250 nm. The high absorption of the reagent blank at 250 nm disappears on decomposition of excess of reagent by heating. Beer's law is obeyed over the range 0.43–3.2 ppm of tungsten(VI). The molar absorptivity of the complex is 4.5 × 10⁴ l.mole⁻¹ .cm⁻¹ at 250 nm. Tenfold amounts of aluminium, magnesium, calcium, cobalt, iron(II), lead, silver, sodium and titanium do not interfere in the determination of 50 μg of tungsten (VI).     

Determination of cobalt, copper, iron, nickel and zinc in cemented tungsten carbides with cobalt as a binder by FAAS: Matrix effect control by multivariate technique

A new approach for the determination of cobalt, copper, iron, nickel and zinc in cemented tungsten carbides with cobalt as a binder by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry (FAAS) is reported. Real samples were dissolved in phosphoric, hydrochloric and nitric acid. PTFE bomb or alternatively small amounts of HF were used for the enhancement of the recovery of the elements investigated. Synthetic samples were used for interference studies. Multiple linear regression was applied for the control of matrix effects and it proved to be very effective in the search for interfering elements. Using simple acid based standards, all investigated elements could be determined sequentially in a complex matrix by using an appropriate method of calculation. The method described has been succesfully applied to real type commercial samples. Results were compared with those obtained by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), being in good agreement with each other and having relative standard deviations better than 5%.     

Pre-concentration of ultra trace amounts of copper,zinc, cobalt and nickel in environmental water samples using modified C18 extraction disks and determination by inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry

A highly sensitive and accurate method for pre-concentration and determination of ultra trace amounts of zinc, copper, cobalt and nickel ions in environmental water samples is proposed. The method is based on the solid phase extraction of these ions on C18-bonded silica extraction disks modified with a novel Schiff base 2,2′-[1,6-hexanediyl bis (nitriloethylidine)]bis-1-naphthol (HDN). The retained ions on the prepared solid phase was eluted with 10 mL 0.01 M nitric acid and measured by inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry. The extraction efficiency and the influence of the type and least amount of eluent for the stripping of ions from the disks, pH, flow rates of sample solution and eluent, amount of HDN, effect of other ions and breakthrough volume were evaluated. The limits of detection of the method were 0.2, 0.2, 0.8 and 0.6 µg L^?1 for zinc, copper, cobalt and nickel, respectively and an enrichment factor of 100 was obtained. The proposed method was applied for determination of zinc, copper, cobalt and nickel ions in some natural and synthetic water samples with satisfactory results.     

Determination of cobalt and nickel by graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry after coprecipitation with scandium hydroxide.

Trace amounts of cobalt and nickel in a water sample were quantitatively coprecipitated with scandium hydroxide at pH 8.0-10.5. Because the coprecipitant could be easily dissolved with 1 mol dm(-3) nitric acid, and the presence of up to 10 mg cm(-1) of scandium did not interfere with the graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometric determination of cobalt and nickel, the volume of the final solution prepared for the determination could be minimized down to 0.5 cm3. The concentration factor was 400-fold and the detection limits (signal to noise = 2) were 5.0 pg cm(-3) of cobalt and 10.0 pg cm(-3) of nickel in 200 cm3 of the initial sample solution. The 27 diverse ions investigated did not interfere with the determination in at least a 500-fold mass ratio to cobalt or nickel. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of trace amounts of cobalt and nickel in river-water samples.     

Determination of vanadium in refractory metals, steel, cast iron, alloys and silicates by extraction of an NBPHA complex from a sulphuric-hydrofluoric acid medium

A method for determining up to 0.15% of vanadium in high-purity niobium and tantalum metals, cast iron, steel, non-ferrous alloys and silicates is described. The proposed method is based on the extraction of a red vanadium(V)-N-benzoyl-N-phenylhydroxylamine complex into chloroform from a sulphuric-hydrofluoric acid medium containing excess of ammonium persulphate as oxidant. The molar absorptivity of the complex is 428 l.mole(-1).mm(-5) at 475 nm, the wavelength of maximum absorption. Interference from chromium(VI) and cerium(IV) is eliminated by reduction with iron(II). Common ions, including large amounts of titanium, zirconium, molybdenum and tungsten, do not interfere.     

Determination of arsenic in ores, concentrates and related materials by graphite-furnace atomic-absorption spectrometry after separation by xanthate extraction

A method for determining approximately 0.2 mug/g or more of arsenic in ores, concentrates and related materials is described. After sample decomposition arsenic(V) is reduced to arsenic(III) with titanium(III) and separated from iron, lead, zinc, copper, uranium, tin, antimony, bismuth and other elements by cyclohexane extraction of its xanthate complex from approximately 8-10M hydrochloric acid. After washing with 10M hydrochloric acid-2% thiourea solution to remove residual iron and co-extracted copper, followed by water to remove chloride, arsenic is stripped from the extract with 16M nitric acid and ultimately determined in a 2% nitric acid medium by graphite-furnace atomic-absorption spectrometry, at 193.7 nm, in the presence of thiourea (which eliminates interference from sulphate) and palladium as matrix modifiers. Small amounts of gold, platinum and palladium, which are partly co-extracted as xanthates under the proposed conditions, do not interfere.     

Spectrophotometric determination of molybdenum by extraction of a green molybdenum(v) species

A simple method is described for the rapid spectrophotometric determination of molybdenum in samples containing 1-60% Mo, with satisfactory accuracy. Molybdenum is reduced with excess of hydrazine sulphate in boiling 5.5M hydrochloric acid and extracted with isoamyl acetate from 7M hydrochloric acid. The green colour is measured at 720 nm against a reagent blank. Beer's law is obeyed over the range 0.08-5.4 mg of molybdenum per ml. Interference from iron and copper is removed by adding stannous chloride and thiourea respectively in slight excess. Titanium, vanadium, niobium, chromium, tungsten, nickel, uranium, and antimony do not interfere even in large amounts. Only cobalt interferes seriously.     

Simultaneous determination of radioactive and stable isotopes of cobalt in environmental samples by the isotopic exchange method

The isotopic exchange method is studied for the simultaneous determination of radioactive and stable isotopes of cobalt in environmental samples. Radioactive cobalt is isotopically exchanged with Co-CyDTA in HC1 solution of the sample. The solvent extraction method is used for the separation of Co2+ and Co-CyDTA species from each other. The amounts of radioactive and stable cobalt isotopes are calculated with activities of Co and Co-CyDTA at the exchange equilibrium. The methods for eliminating interfering ions are discussed. The results are in good concordance with those obtained by the conventional analytical methods.     

Determination of chromium in ores, rocks and related materials, iron, steel and non-ferrous alloys by atomic-absorption spectrophotometry after separation by tribenzylamine-chloroform extraction

A method for determining trace and moderate amounts of chromium in ores, concentrates, rocks, soils and clays is described. After fusion of the sample with sodium peroxide, the melt is dissolved in dilute sulphuric acid. The chromium(III) produced by the hydrogen peroxide formed is co-precipitated with hydrous ferric oxide. The precipitate is dissolved in 0.7M sulphuric acid and chromium oxidized to chromium(VI) with ceric ammonium sulphate. The chromium(VI) is extracted as an ion-association complex into chloroform containing tribenzylamine and stripped with ammoniacal hydrogen peroxide. This solution is acidified with perchloric acid and chromium determined by atomic-absorption spectrophotometry in an air-acetylene flame, at 357.9 nm. Barium and strontium do not interfere. The procedure is also applicable to iron and steel, and nickel-copper, aluminium and zirconium alloys. Up to 5 mg of manganese and 10 mg each of molybdenum and vanadium will not interfere. In the absence of vanadium, up to 10 mg of tungsten will not interfere. In the presence of 1 mg of vanadium, up to 1 mg of tungsten will not interfere.     

The analysis of chromium, cobalt, iron, nickel, niobium, tantalum, titanium and zinc in cemented tungsten carbides with cobalt as a binder by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

 Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) was applied as a rapid routine method for the analysis of cemented tungsten carbides. Chromium, cobalt, iron, nickel, niobium, tantalum, titanium and zinc were selected as major, minor and trace constituents in the material investigated. In the first step, the sample was treated with hydrochloric and orthophosphoric acid. The second step consisted of the simultaneous addition of hydrofluoric and nitric acids. Cemented tungsten carbides dissolved completely, leaving only minor quantities of carbon in the solution. Multiple linear regression proved to be very effective in the search for interfering elements. Using simple acid based standards, all the elements investigated could be determined individually from the complicated matrix using an appropriate method of calculation. The method described was successfully applied to real type commercial samples. The advantages of the ICP-AES method in comparison with the XRF-method are discussed. Received: 15 February 1996/Revised: 22 April 1996/Accepted: 2 May 1996