Simultaneous determination of trace metals by solid phase absorptiometry: application to flow analysis of some rare earths

Solid phase absorptiometry was applied to the simultaneous flow analysis of trace metals in combination with a micro black flow-through cell packed with ion exchanger beads and a multi-channel photodetector connected with optical fibers. A 4.0 cm3 sample solution containing five rare earth metal ions (Dy, Ho, Tm, Er and Nd) was introduced into a flow system and these metal ions were concentrated on a cation exchanger (Muromac 50W-X4) in a flow-through cell. The absorbance increases originating from the f-f or d-f transition bands of these metal ions were directly and continuously measured at 910 nm for Dy, at 530 nm for Ho, at 683 nm for Tm, 522 nm for Er and at 790 nm for Nd, respectively. A multi-variable analysis method was combined with the flow analysis because the absorption spectra of the five rare earth metal ions partly overlapped one another. Although no coloring reagents were used, the proposed method was about ¶200 times more sensitive than the corresponding solution method. The reproducibility of this method was less than ± 5%. The detection limits were 0.03, 0.40, 0.30, 0.35 and 0.23 mg dm–3 for Dy, Ho, Tm, Er and Nd, respectively. Five rare earth metal ions could be precisely determined in practical samples such as yttrium concentrate.