Determination of chelating agents in Hanford tank waste simulant by capillary zone electrophoresis

Abstract

Abstract A capillary electrophoretic method has been developed which achieves rapid quantitative separation and determination of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, N ‐(2‐hydroxyethyl)ethylenediaminetriacetic acid, diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid, ethylenediaminediacetic acid, and nitrilotriacetic acid in Hanford tank waste simulant (TWS). Direct UV detection of Cu 2+ /chelator complexes is used to achieve enhanced sensitivity. The qualitative and quantitative reliability of the method and the quality of separations, as given by efficiency and resolution, is presented. In addition, the limits of detection and linearity of detector response with concentration are given for each chelator. The selection of Cu as the UV‐absorbing species over other transition metals present in the waste is discussed.