THERMO Fisher Scientific has developed a solution said to provide fast and efficient impurity analysis of solid metals, such as steels, platinum group metals (PGMs) and gold.
The solution combines the company’s iCAP 6500 Duo ICP emission spectrometer with a Separate Sampling and Excitation Accessory (SSEA) to enable close monitoring of the silver refining process.
The company says the spectrometer can detect multi-element impurities at ‘parts per billion’ and sub-‘parts per billion’ levels in liquid phase matrices. The addition of the SSEA allows it to work in solid phase metallic matrices with only minimal sample preparation.
According to the manufacturer, refiners have to analyse the silver, gold and PGMs they are supplied with to ensure there are no toxic and harmful elements which may interfere with the refinery process. The maximum allowed level of impurities in saleable silver bullion is less than 100 parts per million.
The developer says the SSEA technology greatly reduces the sample preparation and analysis time.