Abstract
Palladium in gasoline was determined by means of neutron activation analysis (NAA) and selective sorbent extraction. Unleaded gasoline consistent with DIN EN 228, RON 95 was irradiated at a thermal neutron flux of Φth = 1.68 · 1013s–1cm–2 and an epithermal neutron flux of 3.32 · 1011s–1cm–2 for tirr = 12 h. The irradiated gasoline was digested with nitric acid and palladium was then separated as N,N-diethyl-N’-benzoylthiourea complex by an automated column pre-concentration procedure. The eluate of 50 μL was dried on a filter paper and the 88.03 keV photons resulting from the decay of 109Pd were detected in a low level HPGe spectrometer with an efficiency of 35.5%. Severe interferences with other matrix constituents, especially 82Br could be overcome and the detection limit for palladium was improved to 3.4 ng/L at a confidence level of 90%. Although the analytical procedure applied yielded the lowest detection limit for palladium obtained in gasoline up to now, no indications for the presence of palladium were found.
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Received: 26 January 2000 / Revised: 10 March 2000 / Accepted: 13 March 2000
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Schwarzer, M., Schuster, M. & von Hentig, R. Determination of palladium in gasoline by neutron activation analysis and automated column extraction. Fresenius J Anal Chem 368, 240–243 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002160000407
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002160000407