Preconcentration neutron activation analysis for low levels of vanadium in seawater

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:7224585

Kulathilake, A I; Chatt, A ^[1]

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1. Dalhousie Univ., Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada)

The objective of the present work was to develop a simple preconcentration NAA (PNAA) method for the determination of very low levels of vanadium in seawater. The method should have minimum reagent blanks and provide results of high precision and accuracy. To achieve the minimum reagent blank requirement, it was decided to advantageously use one of the major ions of seawater in a coprecipitation scheme. Magnesium(II) is the fourth most abundant ionic constituent of seawater, and it forms highly insoluble Mg(OH){sub 2}, which can be precipitated from seawater by simply adding ammonia. The PNAA method thus developed involves coprecipitation of vanadium with Mg(OH){sub 2}. Radioactive tracer studies were carried out to evaluate various factors that can influence the recovery of vanadium. The general procedure for tracer studies consisted of adding carrier-free {sup 48}V tracer to 100 ml of seawater, increasing the pH with ultrapure ammonia, shaking the mixture in a mechanical shaker, allowing the precipitate to settle, filtering through a Whatman no. 1 filter paper, washing the precipitate with ammonia and water, drying under suction, and counting in a well-type NaI(Tl) detector.

• OSTI ID: 7224585
• Report Number(s): CONF-920606--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States) Journal Volume: 65
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400101 -- Activation
Nuclear Reaction
Radiometric & Radiochemical Procedures
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540320* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-PLUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
ELEMENTS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
ISOTOPES
METALS
NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS
NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
RADIOISOTOPES
REAGENTS
SEAWATER
TRACER TECHNIQUES
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
VANADIUM
VANADIUM 48
VANADIUM ISOTOPES
WATER
WATER POLLUTION