Method development for determination of sodium, potassium and calcium ions concentrations in hot springs water using EDXRF

Measurement of major cation such as Na+, K+, and Ca2+ in water are normally carried out using AAS, ICP-OES or flame photometry. In this study, an attempt was made to measure these cations using Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescent Spectrometry (EDXRF). Hot springs water was taken from varies hot spring in Selangor and divided into two portions that is filtered and unfiltered. 5 ml of water samples were pipette into a special liquid cups (sample holders) which has a thin mylar film underneath. The MiniPal4 XRF instrument was used in this study. The resolution for the instrument use is 145 keV with energy resolution at 5.9 keV. The spectrum of cations were analysed by using MiniPal/ MiniMate software to determine the cations concentration. For K+ and Ca2+, Al-thin filter was used and default filter was used for Na+. The concentration of Na+ obtained for filtered and unfiltered samples were ranged from 38.00 to 66.05 and 43.26 to 76.95 ppm. Meanwhile, concentrations of K+ for filtered and unfiltered samples were ranged from 2.42 to 8.07 and 6.18 to 29.28 ppm. Concentrations of Ca2+ for filtered and unfiltered samples were ranged from 2.59 to 10.94 and 3.18 to 12.99 ppm. (Author)