Environmental iodine speciation quantification in seawater and snow using ion exchange chromatography and UV spectrophotometric detection

The behaviour and distribution of iodine in the environment are of significant interest in a range of scientific disciplines, from health, as iodine is an essential element for humans and animals, to climate and air quality, to geochemistry. Aquatic environments are the reservoir for iodine, where it exists in low concentrations as iodide, iodate and dissolved organic iodine and in which it undergoes redox reactions. The current measurement techniques for iodine species are typically time-consuming, subject to relatively poor precision and require specialist instrumentation including those that require mercury as an electrode. We present a new method for measuring iodine species, that is tailored towards lower dissolved organic carbon waters, such as seawater, rainwater and snow, using ion exchange chromatography (IC) with direct ultra-violet spectrophotometric detection of iodide and without the need for sample pre-concentration. Simple chemical amendments to the sample allow for the quantification of both iodate and dissolved organic iodine in addition to iodide. The developed IC method, which takes 16 min, was applied to contrasting samples that encompass a wide range of aqueous environments, from Arctic sea-ice snow (low concentrations) to coastal seawater (complex sample matrix). Linear calibrations are demonstrated for all matrices, using gravimetrically prepared potassium iodide standards. The detection limit for the iodide ion is 0.12 nM based on the standard deviation of the blank, while sample reproducibility is typically <2% at >8 nM and ∼4% at <8 nM. Since there is no environmental certified reference material for iodine species, the measurements made on seawater samples using this IC method were compared to those obtained using established analytical techniques; iodide voltammetry and iodate spectrophotometry. We calculated recoveries of 102 ± 16% (n = 107) for iodide and 116 ± 9% (n = 103) for iodate, the latter difference may be due to an underestimation of iodate by the spectrophotometric method. We further compared a chemical oxidation and reduction of the sample to an ultra-violet digestion to establish the total dissolved iodine content, the average recovery following chemical amendments was 98 ± 4% (n = 92). The new method represents a simple, efficient, green, precise and sensitive method for measuring dissolved speciated iodine in complex matrices.

Iodine immobilization by silver-impregnated granular activated carbon in cementitious systems

Silver (Ag)-based technologies are amongst the most common approaches to removing radioiodine from aqueous waste streams. As a result, a large worldwide inventory of radioactive AgI waste presently exits, which must be stabilized for final disposition. In this work, the efficacy of silver-impregnated granular activated carbon (Ag-GAC) to remove iodide (I^-), iodate (IO₃^-) and organo-iodine (org-I) from cementitious leachate was examined. In addition, cementitious materials containing I^-, IO₃^-, or org-I loaded Ag-GAC were characterized by iodine K-edge XANES and EXAFS to provide insight into iodine stability and speciation in these waste forms. The Ag-GAC was very effective at removing I^- and org-I, but ineffective at removing IO₃^- from slag-free grout leachate under oxic conditions. I^- or org-I removal was due to the formation of insoluble AgI_(s) or Ag-org-I_(s) on the Ag-GAC. When I^--loaded Ag-GAC material was cured with slag-free and slag grouts, I^- was released from AgI_(s) to form a hydrated I^- species. Conversely, when org-I loaded Ag-GAC material was cured in the two grout formulations, no change was observed in the iodine speciation, indicating the org-I species remained bound to the Ag. Because little IO₃^- was bound to the Ag-GAC, it was not detectable in the grout. Thus, grout formulation and I speciation in the waste stream can significantly influence the effectiveness of the long-term disposal of radioiodine associated with Ag-GAC in grout waste forms.

Iodine speciation in a silver-amended cementitious system

Silver-impregnated zeolite (AgIZ) has been used for removing radioiodine from contaminated groundwater and nuclear waste streams and the worldwide inventory of such secondary waste is rapidly increasing. The objective of this study was to 1) quantify the effectiveness of two grout waste forms for disposing of the used AgIZ, and 2) determine the I speciation leached from AgIZ encapsulated in grout. A 60-day kinetics batch experiment demonstrated that AgIZ encapsulated in slag-free grout was extremely effective at immobilizing I and Ag, a potential non-radioactive carcinogen. However, AgIZ encapsulated in slag-containing grout, the most common type of grout used for low-level radioactive waste disposal, was entirely ineffective at immobilizing I. While the slag-free grout with AgIZ released only 3.3 μg/L I_total into the contact solution, the slag-containing grout released 19,269 μg/L I_total. Based on thermodynamic calculations, the strongly reducing conditions of the slag-containing system (Eh was -392 mV) promoted the reductive dissolution of the AgI, forming Ag⁰_(aq) and releasing iodide (I^-) into the aqueous phase. The slag-free grout system was maintained under more oxidizing conditions (Eh was 439 mV) and a minimal amount of I was released from the grout. In both grout systems, the aqueous I, originally added to the AgZ as iodide, was composed primarily of iodide and org-I, and essentially no iodate was detected. More organo-I was detected in the slag-free than the slag-containing grout system because the high redox potential of the former system was more conducive to the formation of oxidized I species, such as I₂, which may be intermediates in the covalent bonding of I with organic C in grout. Iodine K-edge XANES analysis indicated that I existed exclusively as silver iodide in both AgIZ-grout samples. Together, these results indicate that subsurface grout disposal of AgIZ waste should be done under oxidizing conditions and that radioiodide released from AgIZ can undergo speciation transformations that have important implications on subsequent mobility and estimated risk.

Uptake and distribution of organo-iodine in deep-sea corals

Understanding iodine concentration, transport, and bioavailability is essential in evaluating iodine's impact to the environment and its effectiveness as an environmental biogeotracer. While iodine and its radionuclides have proven to be important tracers in geologic and biologic studies, little is known about transport of this element to the deep sea and subsequent uptake in deep-sea coral habitats. Results presented here on deep-sea black coral iodine speciation and iodine isotope variability provides key information on iodine behavior in natural and anthropogenic environments, and its geochemical pathway in the Gulf of Mexico. Organo-iodine is the dominant iodine species in the black corals, demonstrating that binding of iodine to organic matter plays an important role in the transport and transfer of iodine to the deep-sea corals. The identification of growth bands captured in high-resolution scanning electron images (SEM) with synchronous peaks in iodine variability suggest that riverine delivery of terrestrial-derived organo-iodine is the most plausible explanation to account for annual periodicity in the deep-sea coral geochemistry. Whereas previous studies have suggested the presence of annual growth rings in deep-sea corals, this present study provides a mechanism to explain the formation of annual growth bands. Furthermore, deep-sea coral ages based on iodine peak counts agree well with those ages derived from radiocarbon (¹⁴C) measurements. These results hold promise for developing chronologies independent of ¹⁴C dating, which is an essential component in constraining reservoir ages and using radiocarbon as a tracer of ocean circulation. Furthermore, the presence of enriched ¹²⁹I/¹²⁷I ratios during the most recent period of skeleton growth is linked to nuclear weapons testing during the 1960s. The sensitivity of the coral skeleton to record changes in surface water ¹²⁹I composition provides further evidence that iodine composition and isotope variability captured in proteinaceous deep-sea corals is a promising geochronometer as well as an emerging tracer for continental material flux.

Speciation of iodine-containing proteins in Nori seaweed by gel electrophoresis laser ablation ICP-MS

An analytical approach providing an insight into speciation of iodine in water insoluble fraction of edible seaweed (Nori) was developed. The seaweed, harvested in the Galician coast (Northwestern Spain), contained 67.7±1.3 μg g(-1) iodine of which 25% was water soluble and could be identifies as iodide. Extraction conditions of water insoluble residue using urea, NaOH, SDS and Triton X-100 were investigated. The protein pellets obtained in optimized conditions (after precipitation of urea extracts with acetone), were digested with trypsin and protease XIV. Size exclusion chromatography-ICP-MS of both enzymatic digests demonstrated the occurrence of iodoaminoacids putatively present in proteins. Intact proteins could be separated by gel electrophoresis after an additional extraction of the protein extract with phenol. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS PAGE) with laser ablation ICP-MS detection of (127)I indicated the presence of iodine in protein bands corresponding to molecular masses of 110 kDa, 40 kDa, 27 kDa, 20 kDa and 10 kDa. 2D IEF-SDS PAGE with laser ablation ICP-MS (127)I imaging allowed the detection of 5 iodine containing protein spots in the alkaline pI range.