DETERMINATION OF BISMUTH IN GEOLOGICAL-MATERIALS BY FLOW-INJECTION HYDRIDE GENERATION ATOMIC-ABSORPTION SPECTROMETRY

Flow injection analysis (FIA) has been applied to sample introduction in conjunction with automated hydride generation and AAS techniques for the determination of Bi in rock samples. The powdered rock sample is digested with a mixture of hydrofluoric, perchloric, and nitric acids. The evolved hydride is carried through to a heated quartz tube by a stream of argon, and the atomic absorption of Bi is measured at 223.2 nm. Thiosemicarbazide and 1,10 - phenanthroline are used as masking agents to control interferences from Cu and Ni. The method permits the accurate determination of Bi in geological materials at levels as low as 10 ppb with an analysis rate of more than 50 digested samples per hour. Bi values on 13 international geological reference samples are reported.