Determination of beryllium in a stream sediment by high-performance chelation ion chromatography

High-performance chelation ion chromatography (HPCIC), involving a chelating silica substrate bonded with aminomethylphosphonic acid, has been developed as a novel technique for the quantitative determination of beryllium in complex matrices. An isocratic separation method, using an eluent containing 1 M KNO3, 0.5 M HNO3 and 0.08 M ascorbic acid, allowed the Be2+ to elute away from the sample matrix peak in under 6 min in a sample containing in excess of 800 mg l−1 matrix metals. A detection limit of 35 μg l−1 Be(II) was found using a post-column reaction involving Chrome Azurol S (CAS), 1 M hexamine and 10 mM EDTA buffered at pH 6. The standard addition curve gave excellent linearity (R2>0.999). The procedure was applied to the determination of trace beryllium in a certified sediment sample. The results obtained compared well with the certified value for beryllium.