Sorption-spectroscopic determination of selenium using a PANV-AV-17 fibrous ion-exchanger

The possibility of determining selenium on the solid phase of polyacrylonitrile fibers impregnated by an AV-17 anion-exchanger ([PANV-AV-17]) were examined by virtue of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Reactions of a complex formation between selenium(IV) and organic reagents on solid phase as well as the formation of an elemental selenium sol both on the solid phase and in solution followed by absorption were studied. The best analytical parameters were achieved in the adsorption of selenium sol formed in solution upon the addition of ascorbic acid. The comparison of the batch and dynamic adsorption modes revealed greater advances of the dynamic one. The optimal conditions for determining selenium were proved as follows: the formation of a selenium sol in a 1% ascorbic acid solution at pH 2 and dynamic adsorption at a flow rate of 5 mL/min. A procedure was developed for determining selenium with a limit of detection of 0.1 mg/L. The procedure was validated by the added-found method in the analysis of river and well natural waters and also the standard specimen OSO-200-90, which also contained As, Bi, Sb, and PO43−. The duration of analysis for 5–6 samples of the volume 100 mL was 30 min approximately, RSD < 20%.