ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Determination of carbon in solidified sodium coolant using new ICP-OES methods

Tomáš Vaculovič, Vítězslav Otruba, Oldřich Matal, and Viktor Kanický

Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 61137 Brno, Czech Republic

E-mail: viktork@chemi.muni.cz

Abstract: New methods for the determination of carbon in sodium using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (LA-ICP-OES) and ICP-OES with pneumatic nebulisation (PN-ICP-OES) were developed. The determination was required for the study of the carbon dioxide reaction with molten sodium at high temperatures (300–600°C). After exposition to CO2, the solidified sodium sample was subjected to direct solid analysis by LA-ICP-OES and to solution analysis. For the determination of carbon in the sodium sample surface layer by LA-ICP-OES, three different matrices containing sodium were tested (NaCl, NaF, and Na2B4O7 · 10H2O) as calibration pellets. The calibration dependences were improved using sodium as the internal standard. Average carbon content in the sodium bulk sample was determined by PN-ICP-OES after the sample dissolution by water vapour.

Keywords: ICP-OES – laser ablation – molten sodium

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-011-0054-x

Chemical Papers 65 (5) 620–625 (2011)