Simultaneous determination of six inorganic anions in drinking water by non-suppressed ion chromatography

A non-suppressed ion chromatographic method with conductometric detection i s described for the simultaneous determination of six inorganic anions: flu oride, chloride, nitrite, bromide, nitrate and sulphate. The separation was achieved on a low-capacity anion-exchange column Metrohm IC Anion Column S uper Sep, with a mobile phase consisting of phtalic acid dissolved in high- purity water, 2-amino-2-hydroxymethyl-1,3-propendiol and acetonitrile. In t his work computer optimization procedures, using computer programs to selec t chromatographic conditions have been used, leading to the achievement of a desired separation. By using the different optimization methods in an int egrated manner it is, however, possible to both speed method development, b y reducing unnecessary experimentation, and to overcome the many shortcomin gs of each method, because of the different approaches. The purpose of this work is to improve and characterise the method for simultaneous determinat ion of six inorganic anions in drinking water by non-suppressed ion chromat ography, using optimization procedures, in order to be applied to the routi ne analysis. The proposed method has numerous advantages over the other wid ely used non-suppressed ion chromatography methods: higher selectivity, sho rter analysis time, lower quantitation and detection limits. The performanc e characteristics of the method were established by determining the followi ng validation parameters: precision and accuracy; Linearity, detection limi ts and quantitation limits. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reser ved.