Validation of the method of determining boron oxide in ulexites, colemanites and borates by atomic absorption

The raw materials used in industries are extremely important resources for obtaining the products, thus it is essential to ensure the quality of each of the components present in them. Chemical compositions are often determined using the X-Ray Fluorescence (FRX) technique, but when you want to quantify boron oxide (B₂O₃) it is necessary to use another method because its low molecular weight makes its detection difficult. In view of this, for determinations of boron oxide in ulexite, colemanite and borates, titrimetric analysis or Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (FAAS) is used. Currently, the method used for these detections in the service provision laboratory is titration, however it is an imprecise and error-prone method. Thus, this study aims to implement and validate the method of determination by FAAS, for this we used three matrices of commercial samples as secondary standard, performing five replicates of each one of them for the assay using FAAS. The data obtained show that the procedure developed must be improved in order to validate it with the method already used. (author)