Flow injection analysis-flame atomic absorption spectrometry system for indirect determination of sulfite after on-line reduction of solid-phase manganese (IV) dioxide reactor

Abstract

A new and simple flow injection method followed by atomic absorption spectrometry was developed for indirect determination of sulfite. The proposed method is based on the oxidation of sulfite to sulphate ion using solid-phase manganese dioxide (30% W/W suspended on silica gel beads) reactor. MnO₂ will be reduced to Mn(II) by sample injection in to the column under acidic carrier stream of HNO₃ (pH 2) with flow rate of 3.5mLmin^-1 at room temperature. Absorption measurement of Mn(II) which is proportional to the concentration of sulfite in the sample was carried out by atomic absorption spectrometry. The calibration curve was linear up to 25mgL^-1 with a detection limit (DL) of 0.08mgL^-1 for 400µL injection sample volume. The presented method is efficient toward sulfite determination in sugar and water samples with a relative standard deviation (RSD) less than 1.2% and a sampling rate of about 60h^-1.

Keywords: Flame atomic absorption spectrometry; Flow injection analysis; Indirect determination; Manganese dioxide; Sulfite.