Seawater phosphate

Figure 19. Change in the rate of synthetic aragonite dissolution, relative to dissolution in very low phosphate seawater, as a function of time (57)...

In seawater, HCO3 ions lead to surface films and increased polarization. In aqueous solutions low in salt and with low loading of the anodes, less easily soluble basic zinc chloride [10] and other basic salts of low solubility are formed. In impure waters, phosphates can also be present and can form ZnNH4P04, which is very insoluble [11]. These compounds are only precipitated in a relatively narrow range around pH 7. In weakly acid media due to hydrolysis at the working anode, the solubility increases considerably and the anode remains active, particularly in flowing and salt-rich media. 

Atlas, E. L. (1975). Phosphate equilibria in seawater and interstitial waters. Ph.D. Thesis, Oregon State University. 

Pigna M, Colombo C, Violante A (2003) Competitive sorption of arsenate and phosphate on synthetic hematites (in Italian). Proceedings XXI Congress of Societa Italiana Chimica Agraria SICA (Ancona), pp 70-76 Quirk JP (1955) Significance of surface area calculated from water vapour sorption isotherms by use of the B. E. T. equation. Soil Sci 80 423-430 Rancourt DG, Fortin D, Pichler T, Lamarche G (2001) Mineralogical characterization of a natural As-rich hydrous ferric oxide coprecipitate formed by mining hydrothermal fluids and seawater. Am Mineral 86 834-851 Raven K, Jain A, Loeppert, RH (1998) Arsenite and arsenate adsorption on ferrihydrite kinetics, equilibrium, and adsorption envelopes. Environ Sci Technol 32 344-349... 

Haywood and Riley [14] have described a spectrophotometric method for the determination of arsenic in seawater. Adsorption colloid flotation has been employed to separate phosphate and arsenate from seawater [15]. These two anions, in 500 ml filtered seawater, are brought to the surface in less than 5 min, by use of ferric hydroxide (added as 0.1 M FeC 2 ml) as collector, at pH 4, in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate [added as 0.05% ethanolic solution (4 ml)] and a stream of nitrogen (15 ml/minutes). The foam is then removed and phosphate and arsenate are determined spectrophotometrically [16]. Recoveries of arsenate and arsenite exceeding 90% were obtained by this procedure. 

Ke and Regier [71] have described a direct potentiometric determination of fluoride in seawater after extraction with 8-hydroxyquinoline. This procedure was applied to samples of seawater, fluoridated tap-water, well-water, and effluent from a phosphate reduction plant. Interfering metals, e.g., calcium, magnesium, iron, and aluminium were removed by extraction into a solution of 8-hydroxyquinoline in 2-butoxyethanol-chloroform after addition of glycine-sodium hydroxide buffer solution (pH 10.5 to 10.8). A buffer solution (sodium nitrate-l,2-diamino-cyclohexane-N,N,N. AT-tetra-acetic acid-acetic acid pH 5.5) was then added to adjust the total ionic strength and the fluoride ions were determined by means of a solid membrane fluoride-selective electrode (Orion, model 94-09). Results were in close agreement with and more reproducible than those obtained after distillation [72]. Omission of the extraction led to lower results. Four determinations can be made in one hour. 

Schnepfe [83] has described yet another procedure for the determination of iodate and total iodine in seawater. To determine total iodine 1 ml of 1% aqueous sulfamic acid is added to 10 ml seawater which, if necessary, is filtered and then adjusted to a pH of less than 2.0. After 15 min, 1 ml sodium hydroxide (0.1 M) and 0.5 ml potassium permanganate (0.1M) are added and the mixture heated on a steam bath for one hour. The cooled solution is filtered and the residue washed. The filtrate and washings are diluted to 16 ml and 1ml of a phosphate solution (0.25 M) added (containing 0.3 xg iodine as iodate per ml) at 0 °C. Then 0.7 ml ferrous chloride (0.1 M) in 0.2% v/v sulfuric acid, 5 ml aqueous sulfuric acid (10%) - phosphoric acid (1 1) are added at 0 °C followed by 2 ml starch-cadmium iodide reagent. The solution is diluted to 25 ml and after 10-15 min the extinction of the starch-iodine complex is measured in a -5 cm cell. To determine iodate the same procedure is followed as is described previously except that the oxidation stage with sodium hydroxide - potassium permanganate is omitted and only 0.2 ml ferrous chloride solution is added. A potassium iodate standard was used in both methods. 

Tyree and Bynum [132] described an ion chromatographic method for the determination of nitrate and phosphate in seawater. The pre-treatment comprised vigorous mixing of the sample with a silver-based cation-exchange resin, followed by filtration to remove the precipitated silver salt. 

Figure 2.5. Analytical manifolds for the determination of phosphate by flow injection analysis (a) and reverse flow injection (b). The symbols S, M, and A are the seawater, mixed reagent, and the ascorbic acid solutions. The pump injection valve and detector are represented by P, I, and D, respectively. W = waste. From [177]... 

Spencer and Brewer [111] have reviewed methods for the determination of phosphate in seawater. Earlier methods for the determination of phosphate in seawater are subject to interferences, particularly by nitrate. In one early... 

Isaeva [181] described a phosphomolybdate method for the determination of phosphate in turbid seawater. Molybdenum titration methods are subject to extensive interferences and are not considered to be reliable when compared with more recently developed methods based on solvent extraction [182-187], such as solvent-extraction spectrophotometric determination of phosphate using molybdate and malachite green [188]. In this method the ion pair formed between malachite green and phosphomolybdate is extracted from the seawater sample with an organic solvent. This extraction achieves a useful 20-fold increase in the concentration of the phosphate in the extract. The detection limit is about 0.1 ig/l, standard deviation 0.05 ng-1 (4.3 xg/l in tap water), and relative standard deviation 1.1%. Most cations and anions found in non-saline waters do not interfere, but arsenic (V) causes large positive errors. 

A commonly used procedure for the determination of phosphate in seawater and estuarine waters uses the formation of the molybdenum blue complex at 35-40 °C in an autoanalyser and spectrophotometric evaluation of the resulting colour. Unfortunately, when applied to seawater samples, depending on the chloride content of the sample, peak distortion or even negative peaks occur which make it impossible to obtain reliable phosphate values (Fig. 2.7). This effect can be overcome by the replacement of the distilled water-wash solution used in such methods by a solution of sodium chloride of an appropriate concentration related to the chloride concentration of the sample. The chloride content of the wash solution need not be exactly equal to that of the sample. For chloride contents in the sample up to 18 000 mg/1 (i.e., seawater),... 

Eberlein and Kattner [194] described an automated method for the determination of orthophosphate and total dissolved phosphorus in the marine environment. Separate aliquots of filtered seawater samples were used for the determination orthophosphate and total dissolved phosphorus in the concentration range 0.01-5 xg/l phosphorus. The digestion mixture for total dissolved phosphorus consisted of sodium hydroxide (1.5 g), potassium peroxidisulfate (5 g) and boric acid (3 g) dissolved in doubly distilled water (100 ml). Seawater samples (50 ml) were mixed with the digestion reagent, heated under pressure at 115-120 °C for 2 h, cooled, and stored before determination in the autoanalyser system. For total phosphorus, extra ascorbic acid was added to the aerosol water of the autoanalyser manifold before the reagents used for the molybdenum blue reaction were added. For measurement of orthophosphate, a phosphate working reagent composed of sulfuric acid, ammonium molyb-... 

Tyree and Bynum [132] have described an ion chromatographic method for the determination of phosphate and nitrate in seawater. 

Determinations of the so-called micronutrients , (e.g., nitrate, phosphate, and dissolved silica), in seawater are among the most commonly performed analyses in oceanographic research and survey work. Surprisingly, there exists no certified reference material that can be used to check the accuracy of such analyses, although intercomparison exercises have been conducted on a regular basis [243 ]. The lack of seawater certified reference material for micronutrients can be attributed both to the difficulty of preparing a suitable material with an adequate shelf life [244,245] and to the dearth of independent methods available for the determinations. 

The National Research Council of Canada has undertaken a project, in collaboration with Bedford Institute of Oceanography of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, to address the need for a seawater certified reference material for micronutrients with the initial objective being the preparation of a material with certified values for nitrate, phosphate, and dissolved silica. 

Pruszkowska et al. [135] described a simple and direct method for the determination of cadmium in coastal water utilizing a platform graphite furnace and Zeeman background correction. The furnace conditions are summarised in Table 5.1. These workers obtained a detection limit of 0.013 pg/1 in 12 pi samples, or about 0.16 pg cadmium in the coastal seawater sample. The characteristic integrated amount was 0.35 pg cadmium per 0.0044 A s. A matrix modifier containing di-ammonium hydrogen phosphate and nitric acid was used. Concentrations of cadmium in coastal seawater were calculated directly from a calibration curve. Standards contained sodium chloride and the same matrix modifier as the samples. No interference from the matrix was observed. 

Han et al. [142] have reported an atomic absorption spectrometric method for the determination of cadmium in seawater using sodium phosphate for matrix modification. 

Brewer and Spencer [428] have described a method for the determination of manganese in anoxic seawaters based on the formulation of a chromophor with formaldoxine to produce a complex with an adsorption maximum at 450 nm. Sulfide (50 xg/l), iron, phosphate (8 ig/l), and silicate (100pg/l) do not interfere in this procedure. The detection limit is 10 pg/1 manganese. 

Holzbecker and Ryan [825] determined these elements in seawater by neutron activation analysis after coprecipitation with lead phosphate. Lead phosphate gives no intense activities on irradiation, so it is a suitable matrix for trace metal determinations by neutron activation analysis. Precipitation of lead phosphate also brings down quantitatively the insoluble phosphates of silver (I), cadmium (II), chromium (III), copper (II), manganese (II), thorium (IV), uranium (VI), and zirconium (IV). Detection limits for each of these are given, and thorium and uranium determinations are described in detail. Gamma activity from 204Pb makes a useful internal standard to correct for geometry differences between samples, which for the lowest detection limits are counted close to the detector. 

Flynn [72] has described a solvent extraction procedure for the determination of 54manganese in seawater in which the sample with bismuth, cerium, and chromium carriers, is extracted with a heptane solution of bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate and the manganese back-extracted with 1M hydrochloric acid. After... 

These methods may prove useful in the qualitative analysis of organic compounds, once the selectivities of the precipitants are understood. The metallic oxides suffer from the disadvantage of producing a precipitate which is difficult to filter, while calcite and zirconium phosphates produce relatively well-mannered precipitates. Even when the efficiencies of collection of various model compounds in seawater is known, the immense variety of organic compounds in seawater will keep this technique largely qualitative. 

Samuelsen [345] has reported an HPLC method for the determination of trichlorfos and dichlorvos in seawater. A methyl cyanide phosphate buffer was used and detection was achieved by ultraviolet measurements at 205 nm. 

Cambella and Antia [385] determined phosphonates in seawater by fractionation of the total phosphorus. The seawater sample was divided into two aliquots. The first was analysed for total phosphorus by the nitrate oxidation method capable of breaking down phosphonates, phosphate esters, nucleotides, and polyphosphates. The second aliquot was added to a suspension of bacterial (Escherichia coli) alkaline phosphatase enzyme, incubated for 2h at 37 °C and subjected to hot acid hydrolysis for 1 h. The resultant hot acid-enzyme sample was assayed for molybdate reactive phosphate which was estimated as the sum of enzyme hydrolysable phosphate and acid hydrolysable... 

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