The use of a polymer inclusion membrane as a sorbent for online preconcentration in the flow injection determination of thiocyanate impurity in ammonium sulfate fertilizer

A polymer inclusion membrane (PIM) is used for the first time as a sorbent in the construction of a preconcentration column to enhance the sensitivity in flow injection analysis (FIA). The PIM-coated column is readily prepared by coating the PIM containing poly(vinyl chloride), Aliquat 336, and 1-tetradecanol onto glass beads packed in a glass tube. The determination of trace amounts of thiocyanate in ammonium sulfate fertilizer demonstrates the potential of the proposed PIM-coated column in FIA. Thiocyanate standards or samples of relatively large volume (e.g. up to 2000 µL) are injected into a nitrate carrier stream. The sample zone passes through the proposed preconcentration column where thiocyanate is concentrated in a smaller volume of a carrier solution thus resulting in up to 7.4 fold increase in sensitivity. Thiocyanate is detected spectrophotometrically after its reaction with Fe(III) downstream of the preconcentration column. The limits of detection of thiocyanate in the absence and presence of 20 g L(-1) ammonium sulfate (S/N=2) are 0.014 and 0.024 mg L(-1), respectively. Thiocyanate was successfully determined in several samples of ammonium sulfate fertilizer.