Ion exchange separation in the analysis of bismuth base alloys : Part II. Ternary alloys containing uranium and thorium

Procedures are described for the analysis of bismuth base alloys containing uranium and thorium in the range from 0.1 to 10%. The thorium is first separated by the passage of a solution of the sample in 5M hydrochloric acid through a column of Deacidite FF in the chloride form. For thorium contents greater than about 1%, the determination is completed volumetrically with EDTA using pyrocatechol violet as the indicator. Smaller amounts are determined absorptiometrically by the thoronol method. Uranium is recovered from the ion-exchange column in a quantity of 0.2M hydrochloric acid, bismuth still being retained by the column under these conditions. Uranium contents greater than about 1% are determined volumetrically after reduction to the tetravalent state with a lead reductor, whilst smaller amounts are determined polarographically using a tartrate base solution.     

Anion-exchange separation and spectrophotometric determination of thorium in geological samples

To determine thorium in geological samples it is first separated from all matrix elements by means of anion-exchange. After elution thorium is determined spectrophotometrically by using thoronol or arsenazo III. The suitability of the method for the determination of both trace and larger amounts of thorium was tested by analysing numerous geochemical standard samples with thorium contents in the range of 1-1000 ppm. In all cases very good agreement was obtained.     

The micro volumetric determination of uranium with application to bismuth base alloy analysis

The macro volumetric method for the determination of uranium by titration against standard ceric sulphate after reduction on a lead column has been successfully applied on the micro scale Microgram amounts of uranium can be determined by this method, the lowest amount determinable being about 1 microgram. The procedure is accurate to within ±1% at the 100 μg level of uranium Although bismuth and iron cause difficulty, there is no interference from zirconium or thorium.This method for uranium has been applied to the analysis of bismuth base alloys containing uranium in concentrations from 0.005 to 0.1% by weight.     

Analysis of bismuth base alloys : Ternary alloys containing uranium and neodymium or praseodymium

Procedures are described for the analysis of bismuth base alloys containing 0.2–5% of uranium and 0.2–5% of neodymium or praseodymium. Bismuth is first separated from a solution of the alloy in N nitric acid by extraction with diethylammonium diethyldithiocarbamate in chloroform, followed by the separation of uranium with the same reagent from an acetate buffered solution of pH 5.5–6.0. The uranium determination is completed by measuring the absorbancy of its diethyldithiocarbamate complex in chloroform. The neodymium or praseodymium is determined by titration with EDTA of the aqueous solution remaining after the separation of bismuth and uranium, using xylenol orange indicator in solutions of pH 5.6–5.8 EDTA is also used to determine the bismuth by direct titration of a separate aliquot of the sample solutions.     

A titrimetric method for the sequential determination of thorium and uranium

A method for the sequential determination of thorium and uranium has been developed. In the sample solution containing thorium and uranium, thorium is first determined by complexometric titration with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and then in the same solution uranium is determined by redox titration employing potentiometry. As EDTA interferes in uranium determination giving positive bias, it is destroyed by fuming with HClO₄ prior to the determination of uranium. A precision and accuracy of better than ±0.15% is obtained for thorium at 10mg level and uranium ranging from 5 mg to 20 mg in the aliquot.     

Anion exchange separation of uranium, thorium and bismuth

Summary A method for the anion exchange separation of uranium, thorium and bismuth is described, using the strongly basic anion exchanger Dowex 1 X8. These three elements are simultaneously adsorbed on the resin (nitrate form) from a solution consisting of 96% n propanol and 4% 5 n nitric acid. The separation of thorium and bismuth from uranium is effected by washing the column with a mixture consisting of 80% methanol and 20% 5n nitric acid (elution of uranium). To separate thorium from bismuth the resin is then treated with a solution consisting of 80% methanol and 20% 6n hydrochloric acid whereby the thorium is eluted. Finally the bismuth is removed by washing the column with 1 n nitric acid. The experimental conditions for this separation scheme have been selected after the determination of the distribution coefficients of uranium, thorium, and bismuth in different mixtures of aliphatic alcohols with nitric and hydrochloric acid.

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Zusammenfassung Zur Trennung von Uran, Thorium und Wismut wird der stark basische Anionenaustauscher Dowex 1X8 verwendet. Aus einem Lösungsmittelgemisch von 96% n-Propanol und 4% 5n Salpetersäure werden die drei Elemente zusammen an dem Austauscher (Nitratform) adsorbiert. Mit einer Mischung von 80% Methanol und 20% 5n Salpetersäure wird sodann das Uran eluiert. Thorium wird mit einem Gemisch von 80% Methanol und 20% 6n Salzsäure ausgewaschen und schließlich wird mit 1 n Salpetersäure das Wismut von der Säule entfernt. Die Verteilungskoeffizienten der drei Metalle wurden in verschiedenen Gemischen von aliphatischen Alkoholen und Salz- sowie Salpetersäure bestimmt.

     

Sorption and complexation of uranium(VI) and thorium(IV) with reagents Arsenazo III and Arsenazo M on fibrous filled sorbents

The possibility of the highly sensitive sorption-spectrometric determination of Th(IV) and U(VI) in the presence of each other on the solid phase of fibrous anion-exchange materials with Arsenazo M and Arsenazo III was examined. Polyacrylonitrile fiber filled with an exchanger AN-31, ANKB-50, or EDE-10p was used as the solid phase. It was demonstrated that the studied systems allow the selective determination of thorium in the presence of one-to twofold amounts of uranium. On PANV-EDE-10p with immobilized Arsenazo III, the detection limit of thorium in 2–10 M HCl is 0.002 μg/mL, and in 10 M HCl the presence of up to twofold amounts of uranium is permissible. A high sensitivity of the determination of uranium in 2–7 M HCl of 0.005 μg/mL, which has not been reported before, was attained. The time of the analysis of five or six samples is no longer than 20 min.     

The determination of uranium in alloy systems

A procedure is described for the determination of the uranium content of metallurgical alloys containing this element as a minor constituent. The uranium is first separated from the sample solution by precipitation as uranyl ammonium phosphate in the presence of ethylenediamine-totra-acetic acid. By this means the uranium is separated from many elements including iron, chromium, copper, nickel, vanadium, cerium, ncodymium and bismuth. Tho uranyl ammonium phosphate precipitate is dissolved in hydrochloric acid and the resulting solution is passed through a lead reductor. The tetravalent uranium is titrated with a standard cerie sulphate solution, using ferroin as the indicator. This procedure has proved very suitable for the analysis of bismuthuranium binary alloys containing uranium in amounts up to approximately 20%.     

The analysis of zirconium-thorium binary alloys

Thorium-zirconium binary alloys are analysed by complexometric procedures. For alloys containing more than 20% thorium or 5% zirconium by weight, the sum of the constituents is obtained by a back titration procedure at pH 2.6–2.8 with bismuth nitrate using xylenol orange as indicator. Thorium is then masked with sulphate and the liberated EDTA is titrated with bismuth at pH 1.2–1.3. For alloys containing less than 20% of thorium, thorium fluoride is precipitated on lanthanum fluoride to effect its separation before titration. For alloys containing less than 5% of zirconium, the zirconium is separated by precipitation with p-bromo-mandelic acid.     

Determination of trace amounts of thorium by electroanalytical techniques

Trace amounts of thorium have been determined in the presence of uranyl nitrate and ammonium diuranate (as interferents) by cyclic voltammetry, differential-pulse polarography, differential-pulse voltammetry, square-wave voltammetry and anodic-stripping voltammetry. The determination is based on the substitution of thorium for copper, lead and cadmium in their EDTA complexes and voltammetric measurement of the displaced metal ion. The detection limits ranged between 2 x 10(-7) and 1 x 10(-6)M (r.s.d. 2-7%) for solutions free from the uranium compounds, and between 8 x 10(-7) and 5 x 10(-6)M (r.s.d. 3-5%) in the presence of the uranium compounds at concentrations up to about 1000 times that of thorium. The detection limits depend on both the particular technique and the EDTA complex employed. Anodic-stripping voltammetry gave detection limits of 8 x 10(-8) and 10(-7)M in the absence and presence of uranium respectively.     

Kinetic determination of uranium(IV) based on its catalytic effect on the phosphomolybdic acid-iodide reaction

A kinetic spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of trace amounts of uranium(IV) based on its catalytic effect on the phosphomolybdic acid iodide reaction. A significant feature of the proposed procedure is the selectivity for uranium(IV); it enables the determination of trace amount of uranium in the presence of large excess of rare metalions and other cations and anions. The method can be applied to the determination of uranium within the concentration range of 0–12μg· cm^?3, and the detection limit of the method is 0.02μg·cm^?3. Trace amounts of uranium in thorium nitrate and scandium oxide had been determined by the procedure and the results are satisfactory.     

Simultaneous Spectrophotometric Determination of Uranium and Thorium Using Arsenazo III by H‐Point Standard Addition Method and Partial Least Squares Regression

Simultaneous determination of uranium and thorium using arsenazo III as a chromogenic reagent at pH 1.70 by H‐point standard addition method (HPSAM) and partial least squares (PLS) calibration is described. Under optimum conditions, the simultaneous determinations of uranium and thorium by HPSAM were performed. The absorbencies at one pair of wavelengths, 649 and 669 nm, were monitored with the addition of standard solutions of uranium. The results of applying the HPSAM showed that uranium and thorium can be determined simultaneously with weight concentration ratios of uranium to thorium varying from 20:1 to 1:15 in the mixed sample. By multivariate calibration methods such as PLS, it is possible to obtain a model adjusted to the concentration values of the mixtures used in the calibration range. In this study, the calibration model is based on absorption spectra in the 600–750 nm range for 25 different mixtures of uranium and thorium. Calibration matrices contained 0.10–21.00 and 0.25–18.5 μg mL^?1 of uranium and thorium, respectively. The RMSEP for uranium and thorium were 0.7400 and 0.7276, respectively. Both proposed methods (HPSAM and PLS) were also successfully applied to the determination of uranium and thorium in several synthetic and real matrix samples.     

Application of ion-exchange separations to determination of trace elements in natural waters-IX: simultaneous isolation and determination of uranium and thorium

A method is described for the determination of uranium and thorium in samples of natural waters. After acidification with citric acid the water sample is filtered and sodium citrate and ascorbic acid are added. The resulting solution of pH 3 is passed through a 4-g column of Dowex 1 x 8 (citrate form) on which both uranium and thorium are adsorbed as anionic citrate complexes. Thorium is eluted with 8M hydrochloric acid and separated from co-eluted substances by anion-exchange in 8M nitric acid medium on a separate 2-g column of the same resin in the nitrate form. After complete removal of iron by washing with a mixture consisting of IBMK, acetone and 1M hydrochloric acid (1:8:1 v v ) and treatment of the resin with 6M hydrochloric acid, the uranium is eluted from the 4-g column with 1M hydrochloric acid. In the eluate thorium is determined spectrophotometrically (arsenazo III method) while fluorimetry is employed for the assay of uranium. The procedure was used for the determination of uranium and thorium in numerous water samples collected in Austria, including samples of mineral-waters. The results indicate that a simple relationship exists between the uranium and thorium contents of waters which makes it possible to calculate the approximate thorium content of a sample on the basis of its uranium concentration and vice versa.     

Solid phase extraction and preconcentration of uranium(VI) and thorium(IV) on Duolite XAD761 prior to their inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric determination

A simple and effective method is presented for the separation and preconcentration of thorium(IV) and uranium(VI) by solid phase extraction on Duolite XAD761 adsorption resin. Thorium(IV) and uranium(VI) 9-phenyl-3-fluorone chelates are formed and adsorbed onto the Duolite XAD761. Thorium(IV) and uranium(VI) are quantitatively eluted with 2 mol L⁻¹ HCl and determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The influences of analytical parameters including pH, amount of reagents, amount of Duolite XAD761 and sample volume, etc. were investigated on the recovery of analyte ions. The interference of a large number of anions and cations has been studied and the optimized conditions developed have been utilized for the trace determination of uranium and thorium. A preconcentration factor of 30 for uranium and thorium was achieved. The relative standard deviation (N = 10) was 2.3% for uranium and 4.5% for thorium ions for 10 replicate determinations in the solution containing 0.5 μg of uranium and thorium. The three sigma detection limits (N = 15) for thorium(IV) and uranium(VI) ions were found to be 4.5 and 6.3 ng L⁻¹, respectively. The developed solid phase extraction method was successively utilized for the determination of traces thorium(IV) and uranium(VI) in environmental samples by ICP-MS.     

Extraction and separation of bismuth(III)

Separation of bismuth from beryllium, lead, iron(III), indium, scandium, lanthanum, antimony(III), zirconium, titanium, thorium, vanadium(V), molybdenum(VI), uranium (VI) and chromium(VI) is achieved by selective extraction of bismuth from 0.1M sodium salicylate solution (adjusted to pH 7) into mesityl oxide (MeO). The extracted species is Bi (HOC(6)H(4)COO)(3).3MeO. The results are accurate within +/- 0.5%, with a standard deviation of 0.8%. The separation and determination of bismuth takes only 15 min.     

Chemical analysis of manganese nodules : Part II. Determination of uranium and thorium after anion-exchange separation

A method is described for the determination of uranium and thorium in manganese nodules. After dissolution of the sample in a mixture of perchloric and hydrofluoric acids, uranium is adsorbed on the strongly basic anion-exchange resin Dowex 1 (chloride form) from 6 M hydrochloric acid. The effluent is evaporated and the residue is taken up in 7 M nitric acid—0.25 M oxalic acid; thorium is then isolated quantitatively by anion-exchange on Dowex 1 (nitrate form). Thorium is eluted with 6 M hydrochloric acid and determined spectrophotometrically by the arsenazo III method. Uranium is eluted from the resin in the chloride form with 1 M hydrochloric acid and then separated from iron, molybdenum and other co-eluted elements on a column of Dowex 1 (chloride form); the medium consists of 50% (v/v) tetrahydrofuran, 40% (v/v) methyl glycol and 10% (vv) 6 M hydrochloric acid. After removal of iron and molybdenum by washing the resin with a mixture of the same composition and with pure aqueous 1 M hydrochloric acid, the adsorbed uranium is eluted with 1 M hydrochloric acid and determined by fluorimetry. The method was used successfully for the determination of ppm-quantities of uranium and thorium in 60 samples of manganese nodules from the Pacific Ocean.     

A novel multi-element coprecipitation technique for separation and enrichment of metal ions in environmental samples

A multi-element preconcentration-separation technique for heavy metal ions in environmental samples has been established. The procedure is based on coprecipitation of gold(III), bismuth(III), cobalt(II), chromium(III), iron(III), manganese(II), nickel(II), lead(II), thorium(IV) and uranium(VI) ions by the aid of Cu(II)-9-phenyl-3-fluorone precipitate. The Cu(II)-9-phenyl-3-fluorone precipitate was dissolved by the addition 1.0 mL of concentrated HNO₃ and then the solution was completed to 5 mL with distilled water. Iron, lead, cobalt, chromium, manganese and nickel levels in the final solution were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometer, while gold, bismuth, uranium and thorium were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. The optimal conditions are pH 7, amounts of 9-phenyl-3-fluorone: 5 mg and amounts of Cu(II): 1 mg. The effects of concomitant ions as matrix were also examined. The preconcentration factor was 30. Gold(III), bismuth(III), chromium(III), iron(III), lead(II) and thorium(IV) were quantitatively recovered from the real samples. The detection limits for the analyte elements based on 3 sigma (n = 15) were in the range of 0.05-12.9 μg L⁻¹. The validation of the presented procedure was checked by the analysis of two certified reference materials (Montana I Soil (NIST-SRM 2710) and Lake Sediment (IAEA-SL-1)). The procedure was successfully applied to some environmental samples including water and sediments.     

Non-destructive determination of uranium and thorium in geological materials by resonance-neutron activation analysis

A simple method is described for the determination of uranium and thorium in gological materials. The samples are irradiated in a reactor with resonance and fast neutrons behind a cadmium filter. Compared with an irradiation with the whole reactor neutron spectrum, the matrix activities are reduced to about 1%, those of uranium (²³⁹Np) and thorium (²³³Pa) to about only 50 and 25%, respectively. This relative diminution of matrix activities allows the γ-measurement of²³⁹Np and²³³Pa as early as after two days' cooling time; in samples with high uranium contents the determination of²³³Pa requires one month's cooling time. This non-destructive procedure yields a detection limit of 0.1 ppm for uranium and thorium in samples of 200 mg, with an error of ±5%. Dedicated to ProfessorW. Borchert on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

Heterometric micro-determination of uranium (VI) by precipitation with ferrous cyanide

A method is presented fur the determination of uranium (VI) by a heterometric titration with K₄[Fe(CN)₆]. 0.5–3 mg of uranium in 10 ml solution may be determined in 15–20 minutes. The error amounts to 0–3%.     

Sorption-spectrometric determination of thorium(IV) and uranium(VI) with the reagent Arsenazo III on the solid phase of a fibrous material filled with a cation exchanger

The possibility of the use of organic reagents of the Arsenazo III group for the sorption-spectrometric determination of elements on fibrous cation-exchange materials was examined. The conditions of the sorption of Arsenazo III with the use of diphenylguanidinium chloride on the strongly acidic fibrous cation exchanger PANV-KU-2 were found. Procedures for the determination on the solid phase were developed for thorium in 7 M HNO₃ in the presence of 30-fold amounts of uranium with the detection limit of thorium of 0.005 μg/mL and for uranium in 0.05 M HCl in the presence of fivefold amounts of thorium with a detection limit of uranium of 0.05 μg/mL. The conditions were found for the selective preconcentration of thorium and uranium in the presence of each other, and a procedure was developed for their separate sorption-spectrometric determination.