Ultrafast concentration and speciation of chromium(III) and (VI)

There is an increasing need to know the concentrations of chromium(III) and (VI) separately rather than only the total chromium content. A method is described for accomplishing this very quickly using only low-cost, portable equipment. Two small, resin-loaded extraction disks are placed one on top of the other in a plastic holder. Then a syringe containing the aqueous sample is attached to the holder and the sample is pushed through the disks. In a matter of seconds, all of the chromium(VI) is retained on the top anion-exchange disk and chromium(III) is extracted by the second cation-exchange disk. The concentrations on each disk are several hundredfold higher than they were in the original sample. The amounts of chromium(III) and (VI) extracted are measured directly on the surface of the respective disks by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). Despite the low molar absorptivity of chromium(III) in aqueous solution, the concentration on the upper most layer on the extraction disk is high enough to permit the determination of chromium(III) in samples at the low mg/L range. Chromium(VI) can also be determined at low to sub-mg/L concentrations. A study of the cation-exchange disks was undertaken to compare the performance characteristics of disks containing sulfonated resins and those with iminodiacetate functionality. In addition, data are presented to show the effects of heating the iminodiacetate disks after the initial extraction. The disks were heated in hot water for 15–30 min to complete the slow complexation reaction on the surface.