SPECIATION OF HALOGENIDES AND OXYHALOGENS BY ION CHROMATOGRAPHY INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY

A speciation method utilizing ion chromatography coupled with inductiv ely coupled plasma mass spectrometry is described for simultaneous ana lysis of eight halogenides and oxyhalogens: chloride, chlorite, chlora te, perchlorate, bromide, bromate, iodide and iodate. The method was a pplied for the analysis of drinking water samples collected from water treatment plants in areas in Finland, which are known to have high br omine concentrations in ground water. Water samples collected before a nd after disinfection were analyzed to get information about potential species conversion as a result of purification. Chloride and chlorate were the chlorine species found in these water samples, and iodine ex isted as both iodate and iodide. In the case of bromine, species conve rsion had taken place, since total bromine concentrations were increas ed during disinfection but bromide concentrations were decreased. No b romate was observed in the samples. The detection limits for all the c hlorine species studied were 500 mu g/l, for bromine species studied 1 0 mu g/l, for iodide 0.1 mu g/l acid for iodate 0.2 mu g/l. (C) 1998 E lsevier Science B.V.