Chemical separation of ultra-trace multi-elements in environmental samples

Miyamoto, Yutaka   ; Yasuda, Kenichiro   ; Magara, Masaaki  

We developed an automatic system for sequential separation with an anion-exchange column to simply and quickly separate less than pico-grams of ultra-trace U, Th, Pb, the lanthanide, and Pu in an environmental sample without foreign contamination. The objective sequential separation of ultra-trace multi-elements succeeded by choosing the HCl-HF mixture based acetic acid for Th separation and the HCl-diluted HF mixture for Pu separation. The objective elements in a multi-elements mixture were completely separated for 6 h 15 min by use of the automatic system and the optimized separation condition.