Coprecipitation-enrichment and Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric Determination of Cu (II) in Sea Water

Abstract

A simple micro-determination of Cu (II) ions in sea water was studied by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). Cu (II) ions were preconcentrated by a precipitation method using Fe (II) ions and sodium diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC). After collecting the precipitate containing Cu (II) on a membrane filter paper, it was dissolved with 1 _N-HNO₃, followed by evaporation to dryness. The sample solution used for AAS was obtained by redissolving the residue with 0.1 _N-HNO₃. It was possible to determine Cu (II) ions up to the concentration of 1μg/l without any copresence effects of the salts (NaCl, MgCl₂, Na₂SO₄ and CaCl₂), This method was satisfactorily applied to the determination of Cu (II) ions in sea water.