RECENT ADVANCES IN MODERN IONCHROMATOGRAPHY FOR THE ANALYSISOF ENVIRONMENTAL WATER SAMPLES

摘要

Ion Chromatography (IC) is one of the most important analytical techniquesfor the determination of inorganic ions in water samples. Designed to reduce theworking load in modern analytical laboratories, automation in IC plays an importantrole for actual and future developments. Reagent Free Ion Chromatographswith eluent generation (RFIC–EG?) enable the user to perform a wide rangeof ion chromatographic separations using deionised water as the only carrier.RFIC–EG systems provide isocratic and gradient method flexibility for a widerange of IC applications. For laboratories using carbonate- and methanesulfonic-basedeluents for isocratic separations Dionex expanded the properties ofRFIC with a new technique called RFIC–ER? (ER: Eluent Regeneration) [1].We will discuss the principle of this operation mode for IC systems equipped withelectrolytic suppressors. It utilizes the fact that the effl uent from an electrolyticsuppressor operated in the AutoSuppression? mode consists of mainly the eluent usedin the IC separation process. The new IC operation mode uses a novel eluent purificationcartridge and an effi cient analyte trap column to remove electrolysis gases and purifythe recycled eluent and is compatible with IC separations using carbonate/bicarbonateand methanesulfonic acid eluents. We will demonstrate the applications of the new ICoperation mode in determination of common cations and anions in different samplematrices. RFIC–ER systems are designed specifically for a set of routine IC analyses,such as the determination of anions or cations in drinking water.