Rapid Coprecipitation Technique with Hybrid Hydroxide System Using Ytterbium(III), Gallium(III), and Magnesium(II) for Simultaneous Concentration of 13 Elements in Concentrated Salt Solution Prior to Their Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometric Determination

Abstract

Beryllium(II), chromium(III), manganese(II), iron(III), cobalt(II), nickel(II), copper(II), zinc(II), arsenic(V), selenium(IV), cadmium(II), antimony(III), and lead(II) ions in concentrated salt solutions, such as seawater or sodium chloride and sulfate solutions, were collected quantitatively by coprecipitation with hydroxides of ytterbium(III), gallium(III), and magnesium(II). In this method, a rapid coprecipitation technique combined with internal standardization was applied to simplify the operation; yttrium was used as an internal standard. The 13 elements collected were readily determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry using internal standardization. The detection limits (3σ, n = 10) were in the range of 0.003 μg (for beryllium(II)) to 0.13 μg (for zinc(II)) in the initial sample solution (up to 150 mL). The proposed method was applied to the analyses of some commercially available salts and an effluent as well as the certified reference materials; the elements ranging from 0.03–0.14 μg g⁻¹ in the salts, 0.004–0.041 mg L⁻¹ in the effluent, or 0.006–0.30 mg L⁻¹ in the certified reference materials could be determined with the relative standard deviation of 7–33, 0.3–3, or 2–17%, respectively. The time required for the preconcentration was approximately 20 min.