Multielement Determination of Rare Earth Elements in Coastal Seawater by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry after Preconcentration Using Chelating Resin

Rare earth elements in coastal seawater were preconcentrated by using chelating resin in a batch method and determined simultaneously by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). In this procedure, matrix components (Na, K, Mg, and Ca) were eliminated to reduce matrix effects in ICP-MS analysis and rare earth elements were concentrated by a concentration factor of 100. The pH dependence of the recovery, resin amounts, amount of ammonium acetate for washing, and elution of adsorbed metals with nitric acid were examined in details to optimize the experimental conditions in sample pretreatment. All rare earth elements in coastal seawater were determined at the ppt or sub-ppt level successfully by the present analytical method.