Preconcentration of Zr, Hf, Nb, Ta and W in seawater using solid-phase extraction on TSK-8-hydroxyquinoline resin and determination by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

Here, we present the first simultaneous preconcentration and determination of ultratrace (pmol kg−1 level) Zr, Hf, Nb, Ta and W in seawater, both in the form of dissolved and acid-dissolvable species. 8-Hydroxyquinoline (8HQ) bonded covalently to a vinyl polymer resin, TSK-8HQ, was used in a chelating adsorbent column to concentrate the metals. The greatest advantage of this resin is its endurance to 5 M HF, since this is an effective eluent for all five metals. The analytes were successfully concentrated from 250 mL seawater with a 50-fold concentration factor through the column extraction and evaporation. The detection limit was 0.009–0.15 pmol kg−1. The procedure blank determined using ultra pure water as a sample was 0.005–0.37 pmol kg−1. The five metals were quantitatively recovered from seawater with good precision (2–4%). The effect of sample pH, sample flow rate, eluent composition and sample pretreatment were carefully studied. This method was applied to seawater.