The use of algae Chlorella vulgaris immobilized on cellex-T support for separation/preconcentration of trace amounts of platinum and palladium before GFAAS determination

The ability of green algae Chlorella vulgaris, immobilized on Cellex-T support, for selective binding of platinum (Pt) and palladium (Pd) from acidic solutions (at pH range 1.5-1.8) has been demonstrated. The use of immobilized algae packed into a microcolumn (150 mg) in a flow mode provides good efficiency and reproducibility of the biosorption process (95.2 +/- 0.4% for Pt and 99.3 +/- 0.9% for Pd). The presence of seven interfering ions up to their 100 mug mL(-1) concentration does not influence Pt and Pd retention on the column. The best efficiency of elution for both metals from the column was obtained with 0.3 mol L-1 thiourea (TU) in 1 mol L-1 hydrochloric acid used as a stripping reagent. The detection limits obtained by the optimized method, followed by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometric detection for Pt and Pd, were 0.2 and 0.096 ng mL(-1), respectively. The proposed method was applied for matrix separation and determination of Pt and Pd by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) in spiked tap water, waste-water, and grass samples.