Transition of Iodine Analysis to Accelerator Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

This NA 22 funded research project investigated the transition of iodine isotopic analyses from thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) to an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) system. Previous work (Fiscal Year 2010) had demonstrated comparable data from TIMS and AMS. With AMS providing comparable data with improved background levels and vastly superior sample throughput, improvement in the sample extraction from environmental sample matrices was needed to bring sample preparation throughput closer to the operation level of the instrument. Previous research used an extraction chemistry that was not optimized for yield or refined for reduced labor to prove the principle. This research was done to find an extraction with better yield using less labor per sample to produce a sample ready for the AMS instrument. An extraction method using tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH) was developed for removal of iodine species from high volume air filters. The TMAH with gentle heating was superior to the following three extraction methods: ammonium hydroxide aided by sonication, acidic and basic extraction aided by microwave, and ethanol mixed with sodium hydroxide. Taking the iodine from the extraction solvent to being ready for AMS analysis was accomplished by a direct precipitation, as well as, using silver wool to more » harvest the iodine from the TMAH. Portions of the same filters processed in FY 2010 were processed again with the improved extraction scheme followed by successful analysis by AMS at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. The data favorably matched the data obtained in 2010. The time required for analysis has been reduced over the aqueous extraction/AMS approach developed in FY 2010. For a hypothetical batch of 30 samples, the AMS methodology is about 10 times faster than the traditional gas phase chemistry and TIMS analysis. As an additional benefit, background levels for the AMS method are about 1000 times lower than TIMS. This results from the fundamental mechanisms of ionization in the AMS system and which produces a beneficial cleanup of molecular interferences. Continued clean operation of the extraction process was demonstrated through blank analysis included with all sample sets analyzed. INL work showed improvement on the first year’s demonstration of AMS vs. TIMS. An improved extraction of high volume air filters followed by isotopic analysis by AMS, can be used successfully to make iodine measurements with results comparable to those obtained by filter combustion and TIMS analysis. More progress on the conversion from an extract solution to an AMS sample ready for analysis is still needed. Although the preparation scheme through AMS is already at a higher performing thoughput than TIMS, the chemical preparation cannot match the instrument capability for number of samples per day without further development. « less