Multielement analysis of the rare earth elements by means of atomic emission spectrometry (AES) in the inductively coupled plasma (ICP)

Multielement analysis of rare earth elements by use of AES-ICP is investigated in detail for monazite sand, xenotime and gadolinite. After dissolution of the minerals the analysis is carried out without chemical separation. Optimum conditions are selected. The influence of interfering elements is checked separately and characterized by IEC values. The method is most suitable for the analysis of solutions, because this can be performed immediately (i.e., without chemical separation) and takes little time. Furthermore, a method of multielement analysis of the lanthanides on the basis of their natural abundance is described and discussed. In this method only several selected elements are analyzed directly, whereas the concentrations of the other elements are determined by interpolation. The application of this method is also demonstrated for the minerals mentioned above. (orig.)