Determination of Tin in Primary Ores by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry with Sodium Peroxide Alkali Fusion

Abstract

BACKGROUND The main types of primary tin ore occur in skarn, porphyry, cassiterite silicate vein, cassiterite sulfide vein, quartz vein and greisen tin deposits. Tin ores are generally insoluble in hydrochloric acid, nitric acid and aqua regia, and tin ores cannot be dissolved completely when treated with sulfuric acid or hydrofluoric acid. Traditional measurement methods such as phenylfluorone-cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide spectrophotometry and iodometry have disadvantages, such as the serious interference of the associated elements in the sample, poor stability, high detection limit and low analysis efficiency. OBJECTIVES To establish a method for the determination of tin in primary ore by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry. METHODS The sample was melted and decomposed by sodium oxide, and leached by hot water, followed by tartaric acid and hydrochloric acid acidification. 103Rh was used as the internal standard element to correct instrument signal drift, and the matrix effect was overcome by high-dilution factors. RESULTS The detection limit of the method was 0.1μg/g for tin, the precision was less than 5%, the minimum detection concentration was 0.4μg/g, and the measurement range was 12.5-12700μg/g. CONCLUSIONS The method has simple pretreatment and operation. The analysis efficiency and data quality are an improvement over traditional methods.

Keywords

• tin ore
• inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry
• sodium peroxide
• tartaric acid-hydrochloric acid acidification