On the spectrophotometric flow injection determination of chromium(VI) in natural waters after on-line preconcentration on activated alumina.

The feasibility of chromium(VI) preconcentration on to activated alumina in a continuous flow system with spectrophotometric detection was investigated. Chemical and flow variables, and the influence of concomitant species were studied both with and without preconcentration systems. The best results were obtained by using a 2.5 cm long, 1.6 mm i.d. alumina minicolumn, and selecting 1 x 10(-4) M nitric acid as the preconcentrating medium and 0.1 M ammonium hydroxide as the eluent. The eluted chromium(VI) was mixed with diphenylcarbazide in acidic medium and the absorbance of the colored complex was measured at 540 nm. Linear calibrations for 5, 25 and 50 ml sample volumes were established over the concentration ranges 10-50 mug 1(-1), 2-10 mug 1(-1) and 1-5 mug 1(-1) with sensitivity enhancements of 44, 196 and 392 and detection limits (3sigma) of 3.0 mug 1(-1), 0.3 mug 1(-1) and 0.2 mug 1(-1), respectively. The methods is relatively fast and cheap. Natural waters were analyzed with use of the developed procedure.