Determination of sulfur in soda-lime silicate glass by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy following separation using an alumina column

Abstract

We developed a simple, rapid, and accurate method to determine the quantity of sulfur in soda-lime silicate glass using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and sulfur separation using an alumina column. This method requires a smaller number of samples and takes less time for the analysis than conventional methods. The samples of glass were decomposed using hydrofluoric acid, perchloric acid, and an oxidizing agent. For the amber glass samples, the oxidizing agent used was potassium permanganate. The decomposed solution was diluted with perchloric acid. The solution was passed through an alumina column to enable sulfur adsorption on the column. To desorb sulfur from the column, diluted ammonia was passed through it after rinsing it with diluted perchloric acid. ICP-AES was used to determine the quantity of sulfur in the ammonia eluent. The method was validated using three certified glass samples. The sulfur quantities determined by this method were within the certified values. The relative standard deviation of the determined values was less than 2 %.