Rapid determination of molybdenum in soils, sediments and rocks by solvent extraction with inductively coupled plasma atomic-emission spectrometry

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a high-throughput method for the determination of molybdenum in soils, sediments and rocks, providing a detection limit lower than can be readily obtained by other methods. The molybdenum is solubilised by treatment of the sample with 6 M hydrochloric acid in capped tubes at 120 °C. It is then extracted from the same medium into heptan-2-one, in which it is determined directly by inductively coupled plasma atomic-emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). Extraction of iron, which can otherwise interfere with the determination, is minimised by the presence of a reducing agent. A number of general problems relating to solvent extraction of metals for ICP-AES are also studied.