TRACE ENRICHMENT AND DETERMINATION OF GOLD BY FLOW-INJECTION INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA SPECTROMETRY .1. INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-ATOMIC EMISSION-SPECTROMETRY

Flow injection systems incorporating microcolumns of Amberlyst A-26 and sulfhydryl cotton were combined with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry for on-line preconcentration and determination of gold in waters. Use of a sampling volume of 1 0 ml and an eluent volume of 250 mul resulted in preconcentration factors of 40 and 50 with Amberlyst A-26 (eluent, ammonia solution) and sulfhyrdyl cotton (eluent, potassium cyanide solution), respectively. The limit of detection was about 1 mug l-1 (for both microcolumns) and the precision was 1.2-3.5% at the 50 mug l-1 level. Application to the determination of gold in refinery effluent was demonstrated.