Simultaneous determination of fluorine, chlorine and sulfur in incineratorresidues by oxidative high pressure digestion and ion chromatography

An oxidative high pressure digestion method is presented to dissolve fluori ne, chlorine and sulfur components of municipal solid waste incinerator res idues. It is a combination of the classical high pressure digestion techniq ue with the combustion in a closed system. The concentration determination is carried out by ion chromatography. The results are compared with those o btained by other digestion and extraction methods combined also with ion ch romatography. A CNS-analyzer is used as a further method to compare the sul fur concentrations. Based on the obtained data, the accuracy of the fluorin e, chlorine and sulfur concentrations is estimated as better than 85 %. It is concluded, that the oxidative high pressure digestion combined with ion chromatography is an appropriate method to determine fluorine, chlorine and sulfur concentrations in incinerator residues. Its main advantage is the s imultaneous analysis of these three elements. However, it is a time consumi ng method.