Simultaneous Determination of Fluorine and Chlorine in Marine and Stream Sediment by Ion Chromatography Combined with Alkaline Digestion in a Bomb

Yuhua Gao,Shuai Chen,Jianling Bi,Lu Chen,Xuebo Yin,Xiaoyuan Wang,Yao Ma,Xianwen Fang

doi:10.3390/jmse10010093

Abstract

Fluorine and chlorine are important tracers for geochemical and environmental studies. In this study, a rapid alkaline digestion (NaOH) method for the simultaneous determination of fluorine and chlorine in marine and stream sediment reference samples using ion chromatography is developed. The proposed method suppresses the volatilization loss of fluorine and chlorine and decreases the matrix effects. The results are in good agreement with fluorine ~100%, chlorine ranging from 90 to 95% of the expected concentrations. The detection limits of this method were 0.05 μg/g for fluorine and 0.10 μg/g for chlorine. This method is simple, economical, precise and accurate, which shows great potential for the rapid simultaneous determination of fluorine and chlorine in large batches of geological and environmental samples commonly analyzed for environmental geochemistry studies.

Highlights

Fluorine and chlorine are of great interest in geological and environmental studies due to their special, highly mobile and volatile properties [1,2]
Several analytical techniques have been applied to the determination of fluorine and chlorine: by specific ion selective electrode [16–18], instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) [16], radiochemical neutron activation analysis (RNAA) [19–22], prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNA) [23] or X-ray fluorescence spectrometry [24–27]
An ion selective electrode requires a rather complex preparation stage and the difficulties of other techniques are the requirement of special instruments and/or time-consuming processes [28]

Summary

Introduction

Fluorine and chlorine are of great interest in geological and environmental studies due to their special, highly mobile and volatile properties [1,2]. The content of fluorine, chlorine and ratios of element/Cl in sediment can be used as tracers for chemical evolution of fluids and water/rock interactions in low temperature sediment alteration [9,10] and high temperature hydrothermal systems [11–14], element recycling during subduction-related sediment melting [4,15], and early diagenesis of sediment [3]. Recent studies have focused on the precise determination of fluorine and chlorine in sediment. Several analytical techniques have been applied to the determination of fluorine and chlorine: by specific ion selective electrode [16–18], instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) [16], radiochemical neutron activation analysis (RNAA) [19–22], prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNA) [23] or X-ray fluorescence spectrometry [24–27]. An ion selective electrode requires a rather complex preparation stage and the difficulties of other techniques are the requirement of special instruments and/or time-consuming processes [28]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion