Concentration and spectrophotometric determination of zirconium(IV) during the analysis of rock using a chelating sorbent

The technique of spectrophotometric determination of Zr(IV) in rock based on preliminary individual extraction (concentration) of this element by a polymer chelating sorbent, namely, polystyrene-2-oxi-(azo-1)-2′-oxi-3′,5′-dinitrobenzene, is described. The determination is not hindered by 6 ×104-fold mass amounts of Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Ba2+, and Sr2+; 2 × 104-fold mass amounts of Al3+, Cu2+, Pb2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Zn2+, and Cd2+; 5 × 103-fold mass amounts of Sn2+, Fe2+, Be2+, and Ce3+; and 2 × 103-fold mass amounts of Fe3+, Sc3+, and Y3+. Quantitative extraction of the element takes place in static conditions within the acidity range of 1 M HCl—2.5 pH. The correctness of the technique was tested by the analysis of standard rock specimens. The relative standard deviation is 0.01–0.04 during determination of Zr(IV) at the concentration level of n × 10−2-n × 10−4%.