Preconcentration and determination of mercury in high purity arsenic Original Research Article

An analytical procedure for the determination of trace amounts of mercury in high purity arsenic metal/oxide, widely used in electronic devices, is presented in this manuscript. Pre-concentration of mercury from a large amount of the matrix on a small amount of anion exchanger in hydrochloric acid medium was used to enrich the analyte concentration, followed by its determination using neutron activation analysis (NAA). A detailed study was carried out for the quantitative separation of the analyte from the matrix along with the precautions to be considered for the accurate determination of this volatile element. The separation of the analyte was quantitative and the validity of the procedure was confirmed by tracer studies, standard addition of the analyte to the matrix and by analyzing high purity arsenic for which certified values are available. The overall reproducibility of the separation procedure was 2–10%.