Pre-concentration of molybdenum in water samples using coconut husk

Abstract

Molybdenum accompanies uranium in various types of deposits and plays an important role as a pathfinder element in the hydrogeochemical survey for uranium. In the present study, coconut husk was used for the pre-concentration of molybdenum in hydrogeochemical samples, prior to its analysis by ICP-OES. Quantitative sorption of molybdenum was observed at pH 2 and desorption was achieved by 8M HNO3. Enrichment factor obtained by this procedure was 50. Molybdenum concentrations up to 1.0 ng/ml can be determined easily after pre-concentration using this method. This pre-concentration technique was applied for the determination of molybdenum in hydrogeochemical samples.