Potassium thiocarbonate as a precipitant for platinum metals

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Inorganic Chemistry

Background:

• Accurate quantification of platinum group metals (PGMs) is crucial in various industrial and research applications.
• Existing gravimetric methods for PGMs can be complex or lack selectivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate a novel potassium thiocarbonate reagent for the gravimetric determination of ruthenium(III), rhodium(III), palladium(II), and platinum(IV).
• To assess the method's efficacy in a highly acidic medium and evaluate potential interferences.

Main Methods:

• Gravimetric analysis utilizing potassium thiocarbonate as a precipitating agent.
• Determination performed in a highly acidic medium (pH 0.5-0.7).
• Interference studies conducted with various common and heavy metal ions.

Main Results:

• Successful gravimetric determination of Ru(III), Rh(III), Pd(II), and Pt(IV) was achieved.
• The method demonstrated high tolerance to interfering ions including Ni, Zn, Mn(II), Al, Fe(III), Ti(IV), Zr, Th, Ca, Ba, Sr, and Mg.
• Excellent accuracy was observed, with the largest relative error at 0.7% and an average error of 0.2%.

Conclusions:

• Potassium thiocarbonate is a reliable and selective reagent for the gravimetric analysis of specific platinum group metals.
• The developed method offers a robust and accurate approach for PGM determination in complex matrices, even under highly acidic conditions.