Abstract
Currently, the quantitative analysis methods for uranium that are widely used in laboratories, such as the volumetric method and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) cannot achieve low cost, simple operation, and little influence by other elements. The inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) has a wide linear range, and high stability, and can be used to identify multiple elements simultaneously. However, when ICP-OES is used for quantitative analysis of uranium, the settings for the RF power, nebulizer flow, and pump rate can affect the analysis results. In this work, these parameters were carefully optimized for identifying uranium. Based on experiments, we selected two spectrum peaks 409.014 nm and 424.167 nm for quantitative analysis with the lowest interference. The optimal parameters obtained are atomizer flow rate of 0.75 L/min, a sample pumping rate of 1.6 mL/min, and a high-frequency power of 1400 W. Then we compared the accuracy of the volumetric method, ICP-MS method and ICP-OES method with the optimized parameter for analysis of experimental samples and references. The results showed that the ICP-OES with the optimized parameters proposed in this paper can be used to perform a convenient, quick, and efficient quantitative analysis of uranium in minerals.
Highlights
IntroductionThe quantitative analysis of uranium in minerals is the foundation for uranium exploration, environment evaluation, and radiation contamination
The quantitative analysis of uranium in minerals is the foundation for uranium exploration, environment evaluation, and radiation contamination.The widely used quantitative analysis of uranium includes gamma spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence, atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry method (ICP-MS) and so on
In order to improve the accuracy of the inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) for the uranium, this paper selects the optimal wavelength of the spectrum peaks after analyzing the spectral line of uranium; by adjusting the RF power, atomizer flow rate and sample pumping rate respectively, the standard series of uranium concentration gradients are measured
Summary
The quantitative analysis of uranium in minerals is the foundation for uranium exploration, environment evaluation, and radiation contamination. The ICP-OES has a wide linear range [10] It is a fast analysis method with low-cost and high efficiency [11]. It has been widely used in qualitative and quantitative analysis of minerals during geological exploration, such as rare poly-metallic ores, water sediments, soil, and feldspar [12]. Atomizer flow rate, and sample pumping rate will affect the accuracy of results [13, 14]. In order to improve the accuracy of the ICP-OES for the uranium, this paper selects the optimal wavelength of the spectrum peaks after analyzing the spectral line of uranium; by adjusting the RF power, atomizer flow rate and sample pumping rate respectively, the standard series of uranium concentration gradients are measured. Apart from that, ICP-OES, ICP-MS, and volumetric methods are used to determine the references to verify the optimization effect
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