China Nonferrous Metallurgy

The rhenium determination method stipulated in the industrial standard “Determining Rhenium in Crude Rhenium Compounds Using the Tetraphenylarsonium Chloride Hydrochloride Hydrate Method” (YS/T836—2012) is low in samples adaptability, long in process flow, and high in costs, hence not favorable for guiding production. To address this issue, a convenient rhenium assay method has been developed based on the actuality of plant operation: first dissolve the sample completely with 5mL of nitric acid, 0.8mL of saturated bromine solution and 10mL of hydrochloric acid; then analyze the sample using ICP-AES at Re227.52nm. Precision testing and spike-and-recovery experimentation indicates that the ICP-AES method produces a relative standard deviation (RSD) between 1.25% and 3.45% and a spiked recovery between 95.23% and 102.22%, which meet the assay requirements. In addition, the ICP-AES method can reduce the testing duration from 8h to 4h, meeting the process requirement for rapid testing, and all the testing reagents are conventional and readily available, hence low in testing costs. The method is thus recommended for promotion.