An automatic photometric method with high precision by gradually diluting a sample

An automatic photometric method to increase the precision of measurement is proposed, which is based on the injection of a very small volume of sample by rotary valve and the subsequent homogeneous mixing in a small reaction cell made of glass of the sample with a color-developing reagent gradually delivered by a syringe piston pump until the absorbance of the mixture approaches 0.434, where the lowest relative error in the concentration locates. This photometric method is characteristic of uniformly high precision, low sample and reagent consumption, and high sampling rate of 30 samples per h. The other advantages of this method include easy calibration with only one standard solution and no strict requirements on photometric components. While applied for the determination of cobalt ranging from 0.21 to 1.43 g 1(-1), the relative standard deviations are all below 0.4%.