Preconcentration and speciation of inorganic and methyl mercury in waters using polyaniline and gold trap-CVAAS

Subsequently column experiments were carried out with PANI and the separation of the species was carried out by selective and sequential elution with 0.3% HCl for CH3Hg+ and 0.3% HCl-0.02% thiourea for Hg2+. This was then followed by further pre-concentration of mercury on a gold trap and its determination by CVAAS. The uptake efficiency studies showed that the PANI column was able to accumulate up to 100 mg Hg2+/g and 2.5 mg CH3Hg+/g. This method allows both preconcentration and speciation of mercury with preconcentration factors around 120 and 60 for Hg2+ and CH3Hg+, respectively. The interfering effects of various foreign substances on the retention of mercury were investigated.