A hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometric procedure for selenium determination after flow injection on-line co-precipitate preconcentration

A flow injection (FI) on-line preconcentration procedure for ultra-trace inorganic selenium was developed with detection by atomic fluorescence spectrometry. Selenium (IV) is co-precipitated with lanthanum hydroxide and collected on a PTFE beads packed column, the precipitate is afterwards dissolved with hydrochloric acid followed by hydride generation with reduction by tetrahydroborate. A thorough scrutiny was made for chemical variables and FI parameters. With a sampling volume of 3.4 ml, quantitative retention of selenium (IV) was obtained, along with an enrichment factor of 11 and a sampling frequency of 38 h− 1. The detection limit, defined as 3 times the blank standard deviation (3σ), was 5 ng l− 1. The precision was characterized by a RSD value of 1.2% (at the 0.5 μg l− 1 level, n = 11). The enrichment factor was further enhanced to 20 along with a detection limit of 3 ng l− 1, with a sample loading volume of 6.8 ml. The procedure was validated with certified reference materials and biological samples. It was also applied to the speciation of inorganic selenium in surface waters.