Glucinium dosimetry in beryl

The application of the method developed by Kolthoff and Sandell (1928) for the dosimetry of glucinium (beryllium) in beryl gives non-reproducible results with up to 20% discrepancies. This method recommends to separate beryllium and aluminium using 8 hydroxyquinoline and then to directly precipitate glucinium in the filtrate using ammonia. One possible reason of the problems generated by this method should be the formation of a volatile complex between beryllium and the oxine. This work shows that when the oxine is eliminated before the precipitation with ammonia the dosimetry of beryllium becomes accurate. The destruction of the oxine requires the dry evaporation of the filtrate, which is a long process. Thus the search for a reagent allowing the quantitative precipitation of beryllium in its solutions and in presence of oxine has been made. It has been verified also that the quantitative precipitation of the double beryllium and ammonium phosphate is not disturbed by the oxine in acetic buffer. This method, which gives good results, has also the advantage to separate beryllium from the alkaline-earth compounds still present in the filtrate. The report details the operation mode of the method: beryllium dosimetry using ammonium phosphate, aluminium-beryllium separation, application to beryl dosimetry (ore processing, insolubilization of silica, precipitation with ammonia, precipitation with oxine, precipitation of PO4NH4Gl, preciseness). (J.S.)