Low pressure ion chromatography with a low cost paired emitter-detector diode based detector for the determination of alkaline earth metals in water samples

Leon Barron, Pavel N. Nesterenko, Dermot Diamond, Martina O'Toole, King Tong Lau, Brett Paull*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

40 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The use of a low pressure ion chromatograph based upon short (25 mm × 4.6 mm) surfactant coated monolithic columns and a low cost paired emitter-detector diode (PEDD) based detector, for the determination of alkaline earth metals in aqueous matrices is presented. The system was applied to the separation of magnesium, calcium, strontium and barium in less than 7 min using a 0.15 M KCl mobile phase at pH 3, with post-column reaction detection at 570 nm using o-cresolphthalein complexone. A comparison of the performance of the PEDD detector with a standard laboratory absorbance detector is shown, with limits of detection for magnesium and calcium using the low cost PEDD detector equal to 0.16 and 0.23 mg L-1, respectively. Finally, the developed system was used for the determination of calcium and magnesium in a commercial spring water sample.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)32-37
Number of pages6
JournalAnalytica Chimica Acta
Volume577
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2006
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Alkaline earth metals
  • Low pressure ion chromatography
  • Paired emitter-detector diode detector
  • Post-column reaction

Cite this