THE DETERMINATION OF MERCURY, COPPER, AND ZINC BY DERIVATIVE POLAROGRAPHY-- APPLICATION TO SOLUTIONS OF URANYL SULFATE CONTAINING CORROSION PRODUCTS

Technical Report · Mon May 25 04:00:00 EDT 1959

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4261718· OSTI ID:4261718

Ball, R. G.; Manning, D. L.; Menis, O.

BS>Methods are presented for the determination of mercury, copper, and zine in solutions of uraryl sulfate by derivative polarography. Mercury and copper are determined without prior separation by recording their polarograms, utilizing ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), or sodium citrateammonium carbonate as the supporting electrolyte. In making a choice of medium, the governing facture are the iron concentration and the concentration ratios of the components to be determined. In general, in the absence of iron, dn EDTA medium is satisfactory. For small amounts of iron, NTA can be used to advantage, but, for large amounts of iron, the citrate-carbonate medium is necessary. From 2 to 2 micrograms per ml of copper and mercury can be measured with a coefficient of variation of about 4%. Zinc is separated prior to the polarographic measurement by complexing it with diethyldithiocarbamate, extracting the complex with chloroform and then back-extracting the zinc with dilute HCl. The polarogram is then recorded. The method is applicable to the determination of 2 to 20 micrograms of zinc per ml with D precision of 2%. The effect of foreign substances has been evaluated and their tolerance levels have also been established. The major interference in the determination of mercury and copper is that of iron(III); however, this interference can be eliminated through the proper selection of a supporting electrolyte. The polarographic measurement of zinc is relatively free of interferences due to the efficiency of the separation step. (auth)

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• NSA Number: NSA-13-013233
• OSTI ID: 4261718
• Report Number(s): ORNL-2717
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ACETIC ACID
ACIDS
AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
CARBAMATES
CARBONATES
CHELATES
CHEMISTRY
CHLORINATED HYDROCARBONS
CHLOROFORM
CITRIC ACID
COMPLEXES
COPPER
CORROSION
CYANIDES
DEDTC
EDTA
ELECTROLYTES
ETHYL RADICALS
HYDROCHLORIC ACID
IMPURITIES
IRON
MERCURY
NITRILES
NITRILOTRIACETIC ACID
NTA
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SULFUR COMPOUNDS
POLAROGRAPHY
QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
QUANTITY RATIO
RECORDING SYSTEMS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SOLUTIONS
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
SULFATES
URANYL COMPOUNDS
ZINC