Sequential determination of total arsenic and cadmium in concentrated cadmium sulphate solutions by flow-through stripping chronopotentiometry after online cation exchanger separation

Abstract

Flow-through stripping chronopotentiometry with a gold wire electrode was used for the determination of total arsenic and cadmium in cadmium sulphate solutions for cadmium production. The analysis is based on the online separation of arsenic as arsenate anion from cadmium cations by means of a cation exchanger. On measuring arsenate in the effluent, the trapped cadmium is eluted by sodium chloride solution and determined in a small segment of the effluent by making use of the same electrode. The elaborated protocol enables a full automatic measurement of both species in the same sample solution. The accuracy of the results was confirmed by atomic absorption spectrometry. The LOD and LOQ for Arsenic were found to be 0.9g dm -3 and 2.7g dm -3, respectively. A linear response range was observed in the concentration range of 1 to 300g dm -3 for sample volumes of 4mL. The repeatability and reproducibility were found to be 2.9 and 5.2, respectively. The linear response range for cadmium was found to be 0.5 to 60g/L. The method was tested on samples from a cadmium production plant. Copyright 2012 Frantisek Cacho et al.