Combustion Ion Chromatography – Automated Determination of Halogens and Sulphur in Solid and Liquid Samples

Metrohm (Switzerland) presents Combustion IC (CIC), a fully automated system for the simultaneous determination of halogens and sulphur in widely differing matrices. With CIC, unlike with alternative methods the concentrations of the different halogens can each be shown separately. Moreover, digestion by pyrolysis is superior to offline digestion methods with regard to sample throughput and precision and correctness of results.

CIC is ideal for routine analysis in a variety of fields, as neither prior knowledge about the sample matrix nor complicated method development are required.  CIC is recommended for quality control of raw materials, intermediates and finished products, and is also suitable for straightforward monitoring of compliance with the relevant laws and standards in the environmental field (e.g. DIN EN 228, IEC 60502-1, RoHS, WEEE, etc.). Thus, CIC enables determination of halogens and sulphur in all kinds of fuels, lubricants, additives and other petroleum products, as well as in polymers, flame retardants, textiles, special chemicals, catalysts and all kinds of waste.

The new CIC system consists of a Combustion Module from Analytik Jena and an absorption and IC part from Metrohm. Sample digestion is controlled automatically by a flame sensor. The flame sensor measures the light from the pyrolysis oven and controls the feed rate of the sample boat into the oven in proportion to the intensity of the light emitted during combustion. Thus, duration of the combustion is optimised so that combustion of the sample is always complete (soot prevention), while time consuming delays of throughput are avoided.

Thanks to the automated control of the sample digestion, method development for combustion is no longer needed; both different matrices and different sample quantities can be treated using the same, universal «method».

The complete system, including sample delivery, sample digestion and analysis, is controlled by MagIC Net, the proven software for ion chromatography.