Determination of tungsten in silicates and natural waters

Coprecipitation with hydrous manganese dioxide is used for the concentration of tungsten from natural waters (including sea water) and from solutions prepared from silicate rocks and sediments by hydrofluoric acid attack. After dissolution of the hydrous manganese dioxide precipitate in acidified sulphur dioxide solution, cation excliange is used to separate tungsten and molybdenum from other coprecipitated elements, hydrogen peroxide being used as eluant. Molybdenum is separated from tungsten by extraction of its dithiol complex from 24 N hydrochloric acid medium containing citric acid and can be determined photometrically. After destruction of citric acid, tungsten is determined photometrically with dithiol. The overall cliemical yield of th analytical process is 94±1%. The standard deviation of the method is ±0.010 μg for sea water (0.116 μg W/l) and ca 0.05 μg/g for siliceous sediments containing 0.5–1.0 μg W/g.