Determination of potassium in sea-water by capillary isotachophoresis

Abstract

A new analytical procedure for the determination of potassium in sea-water was developed using capillary isotachophoresis and ion-exchange. After the sea-water sample was passed through the column packed with an ammonium form cation-exchange resin, sodium ion was removed with 2×10−2 mol/l ammonium chloride solution and then potassium ion was eluted with 3×10−1 mol/l ammonium chloride solution. Simultaneous determination of potassium and sodium ions was performed with a newly developed electrolyte system; the leading electrolyte was 5 mmol/l cesium hydroxide containing 2 mmol/l 18-crown-6, 0.01% hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and 70% methanol; the terminating electrolyte was 5 mmol/l tetrabutylammonium bromide containing 0.01% HPMC and 70% methanol. A large amount of ammonium in the eluate did not interfere with the isotachophoretic measurement of potassium and sodium ions. A linear working curve was obtained for artificial sea-water samples containing up to 700 mg/l potassium ion. The proposed method was applied to the determination of potassium in surface and bottom sea-water samples.