Fully automated lab-on-valve-multisyringe flow injection analysis-ICP-MS system: an effective tool for fast, sensitive and selective determination of thorium and uranium at environmental levels exploiting solid phase extraction

An on-line solid-phase extraction method linked to inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has been developed for the determination of low levels of uranium and thorium in environmental samples. The hyphenation of lab-on-valve (LOV) and multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA), coupled to an ICP-MS, allows the simultaneous determination of thorium and uranium in different types of environmental sample matrices achieving high selectivity and sensitivity levels. On-line separation and preconcentration of thorium and uranium are carried out by means of UTEVA resin. The potential of the LOV-MSFIA makes possible the full automation of the system by the on-line regeneration of the column. The limits of detection reached are 0.4 ng L−1 of uranium and 2.8 ng L−1 of thorium. The reproducibility of the LOV-MSFIA-ICP-MS is 1.7% of RSD. Moreover, a high sensitivity, a wide working range (0–200 μg L−1 for uranium and thorium) and an injection frequency up to 9 h−1 (depending on the sample volume) should be highlighted. Different water sample matrices (seawater, well water, freshwater, tap water and mineral water), a phosphogypsum sample with natural uranium and thorium content and a channel sediment reference material were satisfactorily analyzed with the proposed method.