Sorption of PAR–metal complexes on activated carbon as a rapid preconcentration method for the determination of Cu, Co, Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb and V in ground water

A simple, rapid and field-oriented preconcentration method is described for the determination of Cu, Co, Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb and V in ground water samples by flame AAS. The method is based on sorption of trace elements as metal-pyridyl azo resorcinol (M-PAR) complexes on activated carbon (AC) at pH 5.5±0.5. The effects of various parameters for quantitative sorption of M-PAR chelates on AC are discussed. The trace elements are desorbed from AC simply by treating AC with 1.6 M nitric acid, thus avoiding the tedious and time consuming operation of ashing AC. An enrichment factor of 200 or greater is easily achievable. The trace elements could be determined down to 1 ppb (V at 5 ppb) with ±15% relative error. The RSD of the method is ±15% at the practical determination limit of 1 ppb with an enrichment factor of 200. The major advantage of the method is the possibility of performing the preconcentration at the sampling site and hence a small preconcentrated volume could be sent for instrumental analysis, thus preventing sorption on a container during storage. The method has been applied to numerous ground water samples for the determination of these trace analytes at ppb levels in connection with the hydrogeochemical exploration for uranium.