Analysis of trace elements in air particulate matters by non-suppressed ion chromatography

The application of non-suppressed ion chromatography for monitoring of trace elements in air particulate matter was studied in the present investigation. The results indicate that the use of microwave acid digestion method is superior in comparison with the conventional thermal acid digestion method as it leads to higher recovery, better reproducibility, lower volatility loss, better protection against environmental contamination and much less digestion time (5 minutes vs. 24 hours). The use of eluent as extractant is shown to reduce the water dip problem in the chro-matogram. The addition of chelating agent in the eluent coupled with UV detection is shown to provide satisfactory chromatographic separation and good sensitivity for the analysis of transition metals present in the air particulate matter. Using the U.S. National Bureau of Standards Reference Material 1648 Urban Particulate Matter as standard for checking, the analytical procedure is shown to give good recovery and reproducibility for the d