Analytical Sciences

Determination of Carbon in Aqueous Solutions by Atmospheric-Pressure Helium Microwave Induced Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry with Gas-Phase Sample Introduction Technique

Akihiro MATSUMOTO*  and Taketoshi NAKAHARA**

*Wakayama Industrial Technology Center, 60 Ogura, Wakayama 649-6261, Japan
**Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, Osaka 599-8531, Japan

A trace amount of carbon was determined by atmospheric-pressure helium microwave induced plasma atomic emission spectrometry (He-MIP-AES) with gas-phase sample introduction technique. This method was applied for the generation of a continuous flow of carbon dioxide by the acidification of carbonate ion and hydrogen carbonate ion for the determination of carbon. The generated carbon dioxide was separated from the solution by a simple gas-liquid separator, dried with a desiccant and swept into the MIP with helium carrier gas for analysis. Of the acids and drying agents investigated, hydrochloric acid for acidification and anhydrous calcium chloride as a desiccant were found to be the most appropriate for the generation of carbon dioxide. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the best attainable detection limits at C (I) 193.09 and C (I) 247.86 nm lines were 7.89 and 8.10 ug/l with linear dynamic ranges of 100 to 10000 and 100 to 20000 ug/l for carbon, respectively. The presence of many diverse elements and ions was found to cause a more or less depressing interference by the proposed technique. However, no interference was observed from the following elements and ions: Ca, K, Rb, Br^-, Cl^-, F^- and I^-. Finally, the present method has been applied to the determination of carbon in several water samples.

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