Determination of fluoride after direct separation from acid medium by collection of its volatile compounds

A method is proposed for determination of fluoride by separation in acid medium followed by ion-selective electrode measurement. The separation is done at temperatures up to 200 °C, without any previous treatment of the sample, in a PTFE reactor designed to ensure the complete absorption of volatile fluoride compounds. The distillation variables (temperature, time and acid concentration) have been optimized and the interference of other various species in the separation step has been studied. The method has been applied to geological samples. The results obtained are statistically satisfactory.