Issue 2, 2012

Fully automated lab-on-valve-multisyringe flow injection analysis-ICP-MS system: an effective tool for fast, sensitive and selective determination of thorium and uranium at environmental levels exploiting solid phase extraction

Abstract

An on-line solid-phase extraction method linked to inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has been developed for the determination of low levels of uranium and thorium in environmental samples. The hyphenation of lab-on-valve (LOV) and multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA), coupled to an ICP-MS, allows the simultaneous determination of thorium and uranium in different types of environmental sample matrices achieving high selectivity and sensitivity levels. On-line separation and preconcentration of thorium and uranium are carried out by means of UTEVA resin. The potential of the LOV-MSFIA makes possible the full automation of the system by the on-line regeneration of the column. The limits of detection reached are 0.4 ng L−1 of uranium and 2.8 ng L−1 of thorium. The reproducibility of the LOV-MSFIA-ICP-MS is 1.7% of RSD. Moreover, a high sensitivity, a wide working range (0–200 μg L−1 for uranium and thorium) and an injection frequency up to 9 h−1 (depending on the sample volume) should be highlighted. Different water sample matrices (seawater, well water, freshwater, tap water and mineral water), a phosphogypsum sample with natural uranium and thorium content and a channel sediment reference material were satisfactorily analyzed with the proposed method.

Graphical abstract: Fully automated lab-on-valve-multisyringe flow injection analysis-ICP-MS system: an effective tool for fast, sensitive and selective determination of thorium and uranium at environmental levels exploiting solid phase extraction

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 Oct 2011
Accepted
02 Dec 2011
First published
05 Jan 2012

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012,27, 327-334

Fully automated lab-on-valve-multisyringe flow injection analysis-ICP-MS system: an effective tool for fast, sensitive and selective determination of thorium and uranium at environmental levels exploiting solid phase extraction

J. Avivar, L. Ferrer, M. Casas and V. Cerdà, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, 27, 327 DOI: 10.1039/C2JA10304D

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