A flow system for the spectrophotometric determination of lead in different types of waters using ion-exchange for pre-concentration and elimination of interferences

A flow system for the spectrophotometric determination of lead in natural and waste waters is proposed. The determination is based on the colorimetric reaction between malachite green and iodide, followed by the formation of a ternary complex between those reagents and lead cations. The developed flow system includes a lead pre-concentration step in a column packed with a cationic resin (Chelex 100) operating in a sequential injection mode. To improve the mixture of sample and reagents, a flow injection approach was adopted for the colorimetric determination. This way a hybrid flow system, involving both sequential and flow injection concepts was designed. Another feature of the proposed system is the efficient elimination of major interferent species, such as cadmium and copper. The elimination of cadmium interference is obtained by complexing Cd²⁺ with chloride and retaining the formed negatively charged complexes in an anionic resin, AG1 X-8. As for copper, with the presence of both ionic resins as well as the conditions for cadmium elimination, it no longer acts as an interferent. Different ranges of lead concentration (50-300 and 300-1000 μg l⁻¹) can be determined with minor changes in the controlling software, useful for application to both natural and waste waters. Therefore, a detection limit of 25 μg l⁻¹ was achieved. Repeatability was evaluated from 10 consecutive determinations being the results better than 4%. The recoveries of lead spikes added to the samples ranged from 93 to 102%. The sampling frequency was 17 and 24 determinations per hour, for 50-300 and 300-1000 μg l⁻¹ ranges, respectively.     

A multicommuted flow system with solenoid micro-pumps for paraquat determination in natural waters

A flow system designed with solenoid micro-pumps is proposed for the determination of paraquat in natural waters. The procedure involves the reaction of paraquat with dehydroascorbic acid followed by spectrophotometric measurements. The proposed procedure minimizes the main drawbacks related to the standard chromatographic procedure and to flow analysis and manual methods with spectrophotometric detection based on the reaction with sodium dithionite, i.e. high solvent consumption and waste generation and low sampling rate for chromatography and high instability of the reagent in the spectrophotometric procedures. A home-made 10-cm optical-path flow cell was employed for improving sensitivity and detection limit. Linear response was observed for paraquat concentrations in the range 0.10–5.0 mg L⁻¹. The detection limit (99.7% confidence level), sampling rate and coefficient of variation (n = 10) were estimated as 22 μg L⁻¹, 63 measurements per hour and 1.0%, respectively. Results of determination of paraquat in natural water samples were in agreement with those achieved by the chromatographic reference procedure at the 95% confidence level.     

Development of novel detection reagent for simple and sensitive determination of trace amounts of formaldehyde and its application to flow injection spectrophotometric analysis

In this paper, a novel detection reagent for formaldehyde determination is proposed, and is applied to a simple and highly sensitive flow injection method for the spectrophotometric determination of formaldehyde. The method is based on the reaction of formaldehyde with methyl acetoacetate in the presence of ammonia. The increase in the absorbance of the reaction product was measured at 375 nm. An inexpensive light emitting diode (LED)-based UV detector (375 nm) was, for the first time, used. Under the optimized experimental conditions, formaldehyde in an aqueous solution was determined over the concentration range from 0.25 to 20.0 × 10⁻⁶ M with a liner calibration graph; the limit of detection (LOD) of 5 × 10⁻⁸ M (1.5 μg L⁻¹) was possible. The relative standard deviation of 12 replicate measurements of 5 × 10⁻⁶ M formaldehyde was 1.2%. Maximum sampling throughput was about 21 samples/h. The effect of potential interferences such as metals, organic compounds and other aldehyde was also examined. The analytical performance for formaldehyde determination was compared with those obtained by the conventional acetylacetone method, which uses visible absorption spectrophotometry. Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of formaldehyde in natural water samples.     

Development of a novel multi-element detection system for trace metal determination based on chemiluminescence after separation by ion chromatography

A highly sensitive, non-selective trace metal detector based on chemiluminescence has been developed. The metals, separated by simple ion-exchange chromatography, bring about the displacement of cobalt from a Co-EDTA post-column reagent. The liberated cobalt is then detected by the luminol-peroxide chemiluminescence reaction using a modified spectrofluorimeter as the detector. The metals determined are Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Fe(II), Fe(III), Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, the lanthanides, Th, Al, Ga, In, Pb and Bi. The detection limits (three times the baseline noise) range between 2 and 100 μg l^?1, depending on the analyte, for a 200-μl injection. To demonstrate the quantitative performance of the detector, the zinc and aluminium contents of a fresh water certified reference material was determined and gave good agreement with the certificate values.     

A novel spectrophotometric method for batch and flow injection determination of sulfite in beverages

A novel spectrophotometric assay method for batch and flow injection determination of sulfite in beverages is described. The method involves a reaction with diaquacobyrinic acid heptamethyl ester (diaquacobester, DACbs) in acetate buffer of pH 3 to form a highly stable sulfite cobester complex (SO₃Cbs). In the absence of sulfite, the reagent displays three absorption maxima at 349, 409 and 525 nm. Addition of sulfite is associated with the development of a new absorption band at 313 nm, an increase in the intensity of the band at 425 nm and a decrease in the absorbance of the bands at 349 and 525 nm. Variations of the absorptions at 313, 349, 425 and 525 nm are linearly proportional to sulfite concentrations over the range of 0.05–25 μg ml⁻¹with a detection limit of 0.01–0.2 μg ml⁻¹. Negligible interferences are caused by most common ions. Validation of the method according to the quality assurance standards shows suitability for quality control assessment of sulfite in complex matrices without prior treatment. The method has the advantages of high selectivity, good sensitivity, fast reaction, high stability of the reagent and reaction product and absorbance measurements at four different wavelengths in the same run. The method is successfully applied to determine the sulfite contents of some beverages. The results compare fairly well with data obtained using the standard method.     

Flow-through solid-phase based optical sensor for the multisyringe flow injection trace determination of orthophosphate in waters with chemiluminescence detection

In this work, a novel flow-through solid-phase based chemiluminescence (CL) optical sensor is described for the trace determination of orthophosphate in waters exploiting the multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA) concept with multicommutation. The proposed time-based injection flow system relies upon the in-line derivatisation of the analyte with ammonium molybdate in the presence of vanadate, and the transient immobilisation of the resulting heteropolyacid in a N-vinylpyrrolidone/divinylbenzene copolymer packed spiral shape flow-through cell located in front of the window of a photomultiplier tube. The simultaneous injection of well-defined slugs of luminol in alkaline medium and methanol solution towards the packed reactor is afterwards performed by proper switching of the solenoid valves. Then, the light emission from the luminol oxidation by the oxidant species retained onto the sorbent material is readily detected. At the same time, the generated molybdenum-blue compound is eluted by the minute amount of injected methanol, rendering the system prepared for a new measuring cycle. Therefore, the devised sensor enables the integration of the solid-phase CL reaction with elution and detection of the emitted light without the typical drawbacks of the molybdenum-blue based spectrophotometric procedures regarding the excess of molybdate anion, which causes high background signals due to its self-reduction. The noteworthy features of the developed CL-MSFIA system are the feasibility to accommodate reactions with different pH requirements and the ability to determine trace levels of orthophosphate in high silicate content samples (Si/P ratios up to 500). Under the optimised conditions, a dynamic linear range from 5 to 50 μg P l⁻¹ for a 1.8 ml sample, repeatability better than 3.0% and a quantification limit of 4 μg P l⁻¹ were attained. The flowing stream system handles 11 analysis h⁻¹ and has been successfully applied to the determination of trace levels of orthophosphate in environmental samples such as mineral, ground, tap and pond waters as well as samples from a water-steam cycle of an incineration plant. The t-test comparison of the means for the developed optical sensor and the molybdenum-blue spectrophotometric APHA/AWWA/WPCF reference method revealed that there is no evidence of significant differences between the obtained results at the 95% confidence level.     

A novel spectrophotometric method for batch and flow injection determination of cyanide in electroplating wastewater

A sensitive and highly selective spectrophotometric method is described for the determination of cyanide. It is based on a reaction of cyanide with aquacyanocobyrinic acid heptamethyl ester (ACCbs) reagent (orange color) at pH 9.5 to give dicyanocobester (DCCbs) (violet color). The increase of the absorption bands of the reaction product at 368 and 580 nm and the decrease of the reagent band at 353 nm are linearly proportional to the cyanide concentration. The method is used in static mode for determining cyanide over the concentration range 0.04-1.20 μg ml⁻¹ with a detection limit of 0.02 μg ml⁻¹ and for hydrodynamic analysis of 0.4-5.2 μg ml⁻¹ cyanide. Application for batch and flow injection monitoring of cyanide in electroplating wastewater samples gives results agree within ± 1.2% with those obtained by the standard potentiometry using the cyanide ion selective electrode. The method is practically free from interferences by PO₄³⁻, NO₃⁻, NO₂⁻, SO₄²⁻, F⁻, Cl⁻, Br⁻, I⁻, S²⁻ and SCN⁻ ions and gives results with average recoveries of 97.6-99.2%. Advantages offered by using ACCbs as a chromogen for cyanide assay are: (i) high selectivity and sensitivity of the coordination site of the reagent towards cyanide ion; (ii) fast reaction, since legation takes place at the axial position of the reagent; (iii) good solubility and stability of the reagent in aqueous solutions over a wide pH range; (iv) high stability of the reagent (ACCbs) and the colored complex product (DCCbs) and (v) possible absorbance measurements at three different wavelengths.     

Reversed flow injection and sandwich sequential injection methods for the spectrophotometric determination of copper(II) with cuprizone

Two new flow methods, flow injection analysis (FIA) and sequential injection analysis (SIA), for the spectrophotometric determination of Cu(II) in water at trace levels have been developed and optimised. Both methods are based on the reaction with oxalic acid bis(cyclohexylidene hydrazide) (cuprizone) in alkaline media. The two procedures have been developed for the final aim to compare their performances and to offer new rapid heavy metals analysis tools, avoiding the use of extraction steps. A detailed study of the physico-chemical parameters affecting the systems performances has been carried out. The reversed FIA and sandwich SIA approaches offered the best sensitivity. In both cases, an extremely good linearity has been obtained within the range 0.06-4 μg ml⁻¹ (correlation coefficient r=0.9999), whereas the observed detection limits were 0.013 and 0.004 μg ml⁻¹, for FIA and SIA, respectively. Furthermore, due to the great similarity of the diffusion zones in the reaction slugs, our approach offers the opportunity to compare the two methods in analogous conditions. This SIA method, besides keeping its typical reagent saving features, offered analytical performances equivalent to those of FIA. To obtain these results, an original “stop-flow like” method was successfully employed in the SIA approach. Both methods were validated by analysis of real water samples, after copper addition, and certified reference samples of fortified and waste waters.     

A selective lon-exchange separation and spectrophotometric determination of traces of copper in silicate rocks

Summary A combined cation-exchange separation-spectrophotometric procedure has been worked out for the accurate determination of traces of copper in silicate rocks. Silicates are opened up with sulfuric and hydrofluoric acids. The residue is taken up into a 0.5 M hydrochloric acid −0.05 M oxalic acid −1% hydrogen peroxide solution and loaded on a strongly acidic cation-exchange resin column. Polyvalent ions including ferric ions do not adsorb on the column, while copper (II) retains together with divalent metal ions as well as aluminum (III). Copper (II) can selectively be eluted by a small volume of 0.05 M thiosulfate solution. This fraction is sufficiently pure to allow a direct spectrophotometric determination of copper with Na-DDTC without the addition of tartrate and EDTA as masking agents. Quantitative results are quoted for the determination of copper in international standard rocks of the Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).     

Turbidimetric determination of sulphate in waters employing flow injection and lead sulphate formation

An analytical flow-injection procedure based on PbSO₄ colloidal formation is proposed as a turbidimetric determination of sulphate in natural waters. Ethanol-water was used as a medium in order to improve the sensibility of the method. Both chemical and flow variables as well as interfering species were studied. A detection limit of 0.3 μg SO²⁻₄ ml⁻¹ was found, and the analytical range (according to Beer's law) was 2–20 μg SO²⁻₄ ml⁻¹. The precision was better than 3% R.S.D. and the sample throughput was ca. 35 h⁻¹. The method, when compared with a standard methodology, gave good results when applied to water analysis.     

A simple and very sensitive spectrophotometric method for the direct determination of copper ions

A sensitive spectrophotometric method for the direct determination of copper in aqueous samples without a preconcentration step has been developed. It is based on the formation of a yellow complex with the chromogenic reagent di-2-pyridyl ketone benzoylhydrazone (dPKBH) in an alkaline medium. The complex stoichiometry was 1:2 (Cu:dPKBH) and presents maximum absorbance at 370 nm. The influence of chemical variables affecting the behaviour of the system such as pH, concentration of dPKBH, buffer solution and ethanol, order of addition of the reagents and stability of the complex, were evaluated. The molar absorptivity (epsilon) was 3.92x10(4) L mol(-1) cm(-1), and Beer's law was obeyed up to 3 mg L(-1) of copper. The relative standard deviation was 0.46% (n=11) for a sample containing 1 mg L(-1) Cu(II). The limit of detection was 2.5 micro g L(-1) and was therefore more sensitive than the direct methods reported previously. Finally, the method was successfully validated by analysing several real samples with different matrices, such as tap water, natural water or copper alloys, with an average relative error of 2.46%.     

A membraneless gas diffusion unit: design and its application to determination of ethanol in liquors by spectrophotometric flow injection

This work presents new design of a gas diffusion unit, called ‘membraneless gas diffusion (MGD) unit’, which, unlike a conventional gas diffusion (GD) unit, allows selective detection of volatile compounds to be made without the need of a hydrophobic membrane. A flow injection method was developed employing the MGD unit to determine ethanol in alcoholic drinks based on the reduction of dichromate by ethanol vapor. Results clearly demonstrated that the MGD unit was suitable for determination of ethanol in beer, wine and distilled liquors. Detection limit (3S/N) of MGD unit was lower than the GD unit (GD: 0.68%, v/v; MGD: 0.27%, v/v). The MGD design makes the system more sensitive as mass transfer is more efficient than that of GD and thus, MGD can perfectly replace membrane-based designs.     

Flow injection spectrophotometric determination of copper in petroleum refinery wastewaters

This paper reports a new strategy for flow injection spectrophotometric Cu (II) determination in petroleum refinery wastewaters, exploring its reaction with sodium diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC), without solvent extraction step, thus avoiding the use of harmful organic solvents. The influence of several chemical and flow variables was studied as well as the possible interferences. Under optimized conditions, the flow system was able to process 63 samples per hour, with a detection limit of 23 ng ml⁻¹ and a RSD of 2.1% at the 0.2 μg ml⁻¹ level. In order to attest the accuracy of the methodology, seven samples of effluents were analyzed by the proposed method and the results were compared with that obtained by FAAS. It was observed that the physical interferences verified in the FAAS procedure, which only permits its use by the standard addition method, were not present in the FIA procedure. The results obtained by FIA method were not statistically different from that obtained by FAAS-standard addition method. Also, the analysis of three spiked samples provided recovery percentages between 93 and 103%.     

A green analytical procedure for flow-injection determination of nitrate in natural waters

Nitrate determination in waters is generally carried out with cadmium filings and carcinogenic reagents or by reaction with phenolic compounds in highly concentrated sulfuric acid medium. In this work, it was developed a green analytical procedure for nitrate determination in natural waters based on direct spectrophotometric measurements in ultraviolet, using a flow-injection system with an anion-exchange column for separation of nitrate from interfering species. The proposed method employs only one reagent (HClO₄) in a minimum amount (equivalent to 18 μL concentrated acid per determination), and allowed nitrate determination within 0.50-25.0 mg L⁻¹, without interference of up to 200.0 mg L⁻¹ humic acid; 1.0 mg L⁻¹ NO₂⁻; 200.0 mg L⁻¹ PO₄³⁻; 75.0 mg L⁻¹ Cl⁻; 50.0 mg L⁻¹ SO₄²⁻ and 15.0 mg L⁻¹ Fe³⁺. The detection limit (99.7% confidence level) and the coefficient of variation (n = 20) were estimated as 0.1 mg L⁻¹ and 0.7%, respectively. The results obtained for natural water samples were in agreement with those achieved by the reference method based on nitrate reduction with copperized cadmium at the 95% confidence level.     

Gas diffusion sequential injection system for the spectrophotometric determination of free chlorine with o-dianisidine

A gas diffusion sequential injection system for spectrophotometric determination of free chlorine is described. The detection is based in the colorimetric reaction between free chlorine and a low toxicity reagent o-dianisidine. A gas diffusion unit is used to isolate free chlorine from the sample in order to avoid possible interferences. This feature results from the conversion of free chlorine to molecular chlorine (gaseous) with sample acidification. With minor changes in the operating conditions, two different dynamic ranges were obtained enhancing the application both to water samples and bleaches. The results obtained with the developed system were compared to the reference method, iodometric titration and proved not to be statistically different. A detection limit of 0.6 mg ClO⁻/L was achieved. Repeatability was evaluated from 10 consecutive determinations being the results better than 2%. The two dynamic ranges presented different determination rates: 15 h⁻¹ for 0.6-4.8 mg ClO⁻/L (water samples) and 30 h⁻¹ for 0.047-0.188 g ClO⁻/L (bleaches).     

A clean method for flow injection spectrophotometric determination of cyclamate in table sweeteners

A flow system based on the multicommutation is proposed for fast and clean determination of cyclamate. The procedure exploits the reaction of cyclamate with nitrite in acidic medium and the spectrophotometric determination of the excess of nitrite by iodometry. The flow system was designed with a set of solenoid micro-pumps to minimize reagent consumption and waste generation. The detection limit was estimated as 30 μmol L⁻¹ (99.7% confidence level) with linear response ranging up to 3.0 mmol L⁻¹. The coefficient of variation was estimated as 1.7% for a solution containing 2.0 mmol L⁻¹ cyclamate (n = 20). About 60 samples can be analyzed per hour, consuming only 3 mg KI and 1.3 μg NaNO₂, and generating 2.0 mL of effluent per determination, thus providing an environmentally friendly alternative to previously proposed procedures. Common artificial and natural sweeteners did not interfere when present in concentrations 10-times higher than cyclamate. The procedure was successfully applied for determination of cyclamate in artificial table sweeteners with results in agreement with the reference method at the 95% confidence level.     

流动注射光度法直接测定海水中的微量苯胺

基于苯胺与亚硝酸盐的重氮化反应及反应产物与甲萘酚的显色,借助流动分析技术,实现了海水中苯胺含量的分析测定。体系以30.9g/L的NaCl做载液、人工海水配制标准样品,对各个影响因素进行了优化。苯胺浓度在0.01～1.0mg/L范围内与相对峰高呈线性关系,线性方程ΔH(mV)=200.53ρ+1.0728(n=8,ρ为苯胺浓度mg/L),相关系数R2=0.9982。方法的检出限(3σ)为0.005mg/L,相对标准偏差(RSD)为4.8%(n=11)。考察了共存离子、不同盐度样品对分析测定的影响。用于实际海水样品的分析,回收率为95.8%～106.6%。     

A multi-pumping flow-based procedure with improved sensitivity for the spectrophotometric determination of acid-dissociable cyanide in natural waters

An analytical procedure with improved sensitivity was developed for cyanide determination in natural waters, exploiting the reaction with the complex of Cu(I) with 2,2′-biquinoline 4,4′-dicarboxylic acid (BCA). The flow system was based on the multi-pumping approach and long pathlength spectrophotometry with a flow cell based on a Teflon AF 2400^® liquid core waveguide was exploited to increase sensitivity. A linear response was achieved from 5 to 200 μg L⁻¹, with coefficient of variation of 1.5% (n = 10). The detection limit and the sampling rate were 2 μg L⁻¹ (99.7% confidence level), and 22 h⁻¹, respectively. Per determination, 48 ng of Cu(II), 5 μg of ascorbic acid and 0.9 μg of BCA were consumed. As high as 100 mg L⁻¹ thiocyanate, nitrite or sulfite did not affect cyanide determination. Sulfide did not interfere at concentrations lower than 40 and 200 μg L⁻¹ before or after sample pretreatment with hydrogen peroxide. The results for natural waters samples agreed with those obtained by a fluorimetric flow-based procedure at the 95% confidence level. The proposed procedure is then a reliable, fast and environmentally friendly alternative for cyanide determination in natural waters.     

Spectrophotometric determination of zinc and copper in a multi-syringe flow injection analysis system using a liquid waveguide capillary cell: application to natural waters

This work exploits a multi-syringe injection analysis (MSFIA) system coupled with a long liquid waveguide capillary cell for the spectrophotometric determination of zinc and copper in waters. A liquid waveguide capillary cell (1.0 m pathlength, 550 μm i.d. and 250 μL internal volume) was used to enhance the sensitivity of the detection. The determination for both ions is based on a colorimetric reaction with zincon at different pH values. The developed methodology compares favourably with other previously described procedures, as it allows to reach low detection limits for both cations (LODs of 0.1 and 2 μg L⁻¹, for copper and zinc, respectively), without the need for any pre-concentration step. The system also provided a linear response up to 100 μg L⁻¹ with a high throughput (43 h⁻¹) and low reagent consumption and effluent production. The developed work was applied to natural waters and three certified reference water samples.     

A multi-commuted flow injection system with a multi-channel propulsion unit placed before detection: Spectrophotometric determination of ammonium

A flow system with a multi-channel peristaltic pump placed before the solenoid valves is proposed to overcome some limitations attributed to multi-commuted flow injection systems: the negative pressure can lead to the formation of unwanted air bubbles and limits the use of devices for separation processes (gas diffusion, dialysis or ion-exchange). The proposed approach was applied to the colorimetric determination of ammonium nitrogen. In alkaline medium, ammonium is converted into ammonia, which diffuses over the membrane, causing a pH change and subsequently a colour change in the acceptor stream (bromothymol blue solution). The system allowed the re-circulation of the acceptor solution and was applied to ammonium determination in surface and tap water, providing relative standard deviations lower than 1.5%. A stopped flow approach in the acceptor stream was adopted to attain a low quantification limit (42 μg L⁻¹) and a linear dynamic range of 50–1000 μg L⁻¹ with a determination rate of 20 h⁻¹.