DETERMINATION OF COPPER(II) IN WATER BY TEST STRIP METHOD

Objective To establish a new method for determination of copper in water.Methods A test strip method was adopted.The principle is that Cu2+ reacts with developing reagent to form brown colored complex compound under weak alkaline condition.The concentration of the unknown is determined by comparison with a series of color standards.Blank filter papers were soaked in two steps.In the first step,the blank filter papers were soaked by 0.1% cupral reagent.In the second step,the filter papers were soaked by 0.5% lead acetate and were cut into test strips after the filter papers were dried.The test strips were insert into water samples at pH 8.0～11.0 for 1 min.The results were observed after 2 min.Recovery tests by adding known concentration of Cu2+(5.0 mg·L-1) into the water samples from the river,lake,sea,and tap water in Tianjin were performed and compared with the national standard method.Result The results obtained with the test strips were in good agreement with those of national standard method.All the recovery values were about 5.0 mg·L-1.Conclusion The method is simple,easy to use and suitable for rapid detection of copper in water on-the-spot.