Determination of alkaline earth metal ions in solar salt by ion chromatography after solvent extraction with 1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-benzoyl-5-pyrazolone

Ion chromatography was effectively applied to the determination of alkaline earth elements (Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba) in solar salt after extraction with 1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-benzoyl-5-pyrazolone (HPMBP) into MIBK. The recommended procedure was as follows : the samples (20 ∼ 50 g) were dissolved in about 150 ml of water and the solution was filtered through filter paper into a 200-ml volumetric flask. Ten ml of the sample was pipetted into a centrifuge tube, 5 ml of NH3-NH4Cl buffer solution (pH 9.5), and 15 ml 0.05 M HPMBP-MIBK solution were added. The mixture was shaken vigorously for 30 min. After the phases were separated, an 8-ml portion of the organic phase was transferred into another tube and the alkaline earth elements were back-extracted with 8 ml of the 0.1 M hydrochloric acid. The aqueous phase (6 ml) was heated on a hot plate at 100 deg C in order to remove the dissolved MIBK in the phase. After cooling to room temperature, the solution was diluted to 25 ml with water. A 100 μl aliquot of the sample was analyzed by use of an ion chromatograph (Yokogawa Hokushin Electric Works, model IC 100) equipped with a precolumn (PCX 1, 50 mm x 4.6 mm i.d.) and a separation column (SCX 1, 250 mm x 4.6 mm i.d.) by using 2 mM ethylene diamine-4 mM tartaric acid as a mobile phase (2 ml/min). The detection limits (S/N = 2) were 1.5 ppb for Mg2+, 3.4 ppb for Ca2+, 20 ppb for Sr2+ and 50 ppb for Ba2+, respectively. Relative standard deviation (n = 7) was less than 6.3 % for the simultaneous determination of four elements. The recoveries of Mg2+, Ca2+, Sr2+ and Ba2+ by the proposed method were 100 ∼ 105, 95 ∼ 105, 97 ∼ 101 and 95 ∼ 101 %, respectively. (author)