Titanium dioxide solid phase for inorganic species adsorption and determination: the case of arsenic

We have evaluated a new titanium dioxide (Adsorbsia As600) for the adsorption of both inorganic As (V) and As (III) species. In order to characterize the sorbent, batch experiments were undertaken to determine the capacities of As (III) and As (V) at pH 7.3, which were found to be 0.21 and 0.14 mmol g(-1), respectively. Elution of adsorbed species was only possible using basic solutions, and arsenic desorbed under batch conditions was 50 % when 60 mg of loaded titanium dioxide was treated with 0.5 M NaOH solution. Moreover, its use as a sorbent for solid-phase extraction and preconcentration of arsenic species from well waters has been investigated, without any previous pretreatment of the sample. Solid-phase extraction was implemented by packing several minicolumns with Adsorbsia As600. The method has been validated showing good accuracy and precision. Acceptable recoveries were obtained when spiked waters at 100-200 mu g L-1 were measured. The presence of major anions commonly found in waters did not affect arsenic adsoption, and only silicate at 100 mg L-1 level severely competed with arsenic species to bind to the material. Finally, the measured concentrations in water samples containing arsenic from the Pyrinees (Catalonia, Spain) showed good agreement with the ICP-MS results.