Development of a New Fluorescence Method for the Detection of Beryllium on Surfaces

Abstract

A rapid, quantitative, sensitive test for the detection of beryllium on surfaces has been developed. The method is based on the fluorescence of beryllium bound to sulfonated hydroxybenzoquinoline at pH 12.8, which emits at 475 nm when excited at 380 nm and includes a novel dissolution technique. The intensity of fluorescence is linear with respect to beryllium concentration. A detection limit of 0.02 µg Be/100 cm2 has been achieved, which is ten times lower than the DOE recommended working limit for non-beryllium work areas [1]. Interference studies have been carried out with a variety of metals including Al, Fe, Pb, U, Cd, Cr, Hg, Ca, W, Ni, Co, and Cu with minimal or no interferences found for detection of Be at 100 nM in the presence 0.4 mM of the other metal. The method has proven successful under various operating conditions, including the detection of beryllium on a variety of surfaces both in laboratory settings and in field trials. It fulfills the requirements for a fast, inexpensive, field deployable method of detection of beryllium on surfaces.

Beryllium Measurement in Commercially Available Wet Wipes

“…The phenolic group binds strongly to beryllium where the six member ring has the ideal distance between O-O or N-O for chelating Be [13]. A tightly bound hydrogen bonded proton leads to a weak triplet emission at 580 nm for the dye solution.…”

Trace-level beryllium analysis in the laboratory and in the field: state of the art, challenges and opportunities

“…At this symposium, papers were presented on techniques utilizing LIBS, MIPS, TOFMS, voltammetry 60,61 and colorimetric surface wipes 62 . The LIBS, MIPS, and colorimetric techniques are now commercially 395 available 42,44,63 , along with the atomic fluorescence technique developed more recently [28][29][30] . In 2002-03, a group of scientists from DOE, NIOSH, and the U. S. Department of Defense (DOD) developed preliminary criteria for real-time air monitoring equipment 400 and surface wipe analyzers 59,64 .…”

“…25 , inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) 26 , and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) 27 . Additionally, an atomic fluorescence method has recently been developed [28][29][30] . Estimates of method detection limits (MDLs) for these techniques are given in Table 1 30 (as discussed further below), and interferences that may be encountered.…”

“…A wide variety of digestion protocols are used 33 , making 180 it difficult to compare analytical results among laboratories even when the same instrument is used. The fluorescence method uses a 1% ammonium bifluoride (aqueous) extraction 28,29 . For sample preparation by acid digestion, the main 185 consideration in selecting a digestion protocol is to ensure that it is sufficiently robust to digest all of the beryllium present in the sample, regardless of the chemical forms or physical characteristics (such as particle size).…”

Beryllium Measurement in Commercially Available Wet Wipes

“…Alternative methods used to analyze beryllium are graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively couple plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) [11][12]. Compared to the other methods, the fluorescence method is not sensitive to interference by other metals present [6,13] and has beryllium detection limits comparable to the most sensitive method using ICP-MS.…”