Determination of caesium in river and sea waters by electrothermal atomic-absorption spectrometry. Interference of cobalt and iron

Abstract

For the enrichment or the simple recovery of caesium from river and sea waters, selective inorganic exchangers were considered. Ammonium hexacyanocobalt ferrate (NCFC) was chosen because it can be used in strongly acidic solutions (with the exception of concentrated sulphuric acid). Caesium is fully retained by the NCFC chromatographic column and can then be recovered by dissolution in hot sulphuric acid. The solution is then diluted and analysed, either directly or following caesium separation, by atomic-absorption spectrometry.

To check the reliability of the analytical procedure, a series of experiments were carried out in which the possible interfering species were added to the aqueous caesium solution prior to analysis. The well known ionic interference in flame atomisation processes caused by magnesium, calcium, strontium and metals was investigated by electrothermal atomisation measurements. The experimental data showed that this effect does not occur even when these elements are present in concentrations of the order of thousands of parts per million. However, strong interferences from iron and cobalt were observed.