Fully automated lab-on-valve-multisyringe flow injection analysis-ICP-MS system: an effective tool for fast, sensitive and selective determination of thorium and uranium at environmental levels exploiting solid phase extraction

Abstract

An on-line solid-phase extraction method linked to inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has been developed for the determination of low levels of uranium and thorium in environmental samples. The hyphenation of lab-on-valve (LOV) and multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA), coupled to an ICP-MS, allows the simultaneous determination of thorium and uranium in different types of environmental sample matrices achieving high selectivity and sensitivity levels. On-line separation and preconcentration of thorium and uranium are carried out by means of UTEVA resin. The potential of the LOV-MSFIA makes possible the full automation of the system by the on-line regeneration of the column. The limits of detection reached are 0.4 ng L À1 of uranium and 2.8 ng L À1 of thorium. The reproducibility of the LOV-MSFIA-ICP-MS is 1.7% of RSD. Moreover, a high sensitivity, a wide working range (0-200 mg L À1 for uranium and thorium) and an injection frequency up to 9 h À1 (depending on the sample volume) should be highlighted. Different water sample matrices (seawater, well water, freshwater, tap water and mineral water), a phosphogypsum sample with natural uranium and thorium content and a channel sediment reference material were satisfactorily analyzed with the proposed method.

Plasma source mass spectrometry for radioactive waste characterisation in support of nuclear decommissioning: a review

“…The method detection limit was 0.5 ng L À1 (2.0 Â 10 À6 Bq g À1 ) Avivar et al (2011) measured Th and U in multiple environmental samples (different water samples, a phosphogypsum sample, and a channel sediment reference material) using multi-syringe FIA (MSFIA), using UTEVA resin (Triskem International) for online separation and pre-concentration. 248 The system was coupled to ICP-DRC-MS (Perkin Elmer Elan DRC-e) equipped with a Scott spray chamber and cross-ow nebulizer. Combination of LOV with MSFIA achieved a 232 Th detection limit of 2.8 ng L À1 (1.1 Â 10 À5 Bq L À1 ), compared to 120 ng L À1 (4.9 Â 10 À4 Bq L À1 ) using FIA only.…”

Determination of 90Sr and 210Pb in sludge samples using a LOV-MSFIA system and liquid scintillation counting

“…The system was fitted with a Scott spray chamber and a crossflow nebulizer (Perkin Elmer, Spain). 209 Bi and 107 Ag (2 mg L À 1 ) were used as internal standards (Feuerstein et al, 2008;Avivar et al, 2012) to compensate for the instrument drift between runs.…”

Automating Radiochemical Analysis

“…A fully automated LOVeMSFIAeICP-MS system was proposed as a fast, sensitive and selective methodology for determination of thorium and uranium at environmental levels [27]. Both radionuclides have natural radioisotopes with long half-lives, e.g.…”