Determination of Trace Zirconium in Organic Phase by ICP-MS

A simple, reliable and feasible method was built for determining of trace Zirconium in organic phase by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry(ICP-MS) equipped with an sampler for organic phase. The surfactant of Triton X-100 was used to improve the organic phase solubility in aqueous solution, and the instrumental operating parameters and experimental conditions were optimized with the standard solution of organic-aqueous phase mixture.The effect of matrix on determination of Zirconium was discussed in detail by ICP-MS. The internal standard element of Sr or In was employed to eliminate the signal suppression effect induced by matrix and instrument signal drift. The results suggest that the addition of surfactant can make the organic phase to dissolve in aqueous phase. The detection limits (3S, n=11) of the method are no greater than 0.017 ng/g. Satisfied recoveries varied from 97.0% to 102.5% are achieved. The relative standard derivations (RSDs) are less than 3.0%. In short, the method is very promising in determination of trace Zirconium in organic phase.