J. Shiowatana et al., Determination of total mercury in natural gas liquid and condensate by carbon adsorption and slurry sampling ETAAS, ATOM SPECT, 20(6), 1999, pp. 224-229
A method for the determination of total mercury in natural gas liquid (NGL)
and condensate (NGC) was delveloped. The trace amount of mercury was conce
ntrated by adsorption on activated carbon powder, which was subsequently fi
ltered and determined using the slurry sampling electrothermal atomic absor
ption technique. A concentration factor of up to 1000-fold was obtained in
the preconcentration step. Triton X-100 at 5000 mu g/m L was necessary to d
isperse the adsorbed carbon powder in order to obtain a homogeneous slurry.
Palladium was used as the chemical modifier in the ETAAS determination. Ac
tivated carbon could play the same role as ascorbic acid to facilitate pall
adium to stabilize the mercury and to enhance the sensitivity. The recovery
of spiked mercury was found to be better than 90%. The repeatability and d
etection limit for NGL were found to be 8.4% and 2.0 ng/mL, respectively.