A FTIR method for cyanide analysis in environmental samples

The present U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved procedures for the analytical determination of priority pollutants such as inorganic cyanides are characterized by long chemical preparation times and inaccurate concentration determinations due to matrix purification techniques and indirect methods of analysis. FT spectroscopy was explored to develop a method for aqueous cyanide analysis. Computerized spectral subtraction and Beer's Law was applied to the measured infrared absorbances to aid with the determination of cyanide in a depleted gold potassium cyanide electroplating bath. Additionally, a titrimetric method for cyanides in water was used in the primary analytical determination of cyanide in a plating bath solution. The method was time consuming and the concentrations determined for total cyanide were ambiguous. Computerized FTIR techniques were necessary for the determination of the cyanide in a complex matrix. Based on original formulations for gold plating baths, the determination of cyanide in a waste bath was reasonably assessed by FTIR.