Total Nitrogen at Trace Level (‹1ppm) in Volatile Liquid Samples

Analysing trace level nitrogen in volatile liquid samples is often seen as a challenging application. The physical properties of these samples, including low boiling components which tend to evaporate quickly, may create a matrix effect during sample introduction. This matrix effect results in a false contribution to the area (for the nitrogen) generated by the analyser. Typically, lab technicians reduce this matrix effect by diluting the samples in a single matrix. The unique design of the XPLORER’s introduction module overcomes this challenge. Trace level nitrogen samples are analyzed directly without any sample dilution.

Primarily petrochemical laboratories have to deal with the analysis of volatile liquid samples. They are tasked to monitor the amount of organic nitrogen that remains during the production process of high purity organic solvents. Quantities of nitrogen present in these chemicals must be little, as the chemicals are used as components in production processes of other materials. Nitrogen is one of the specifications that influences the quality of these chemical products, which makes it a critical parameter.

The false contribution to the concentration of nitrogen may be caused by uncontrolled sample introduction and flash evaporation. To demonstrate the XPLORER is not affected by this phenomenon, multiple volatile liquid samples with low concentrations of nitrogen have been analysed. (Please see image A and B)

The XPLORER is able to measure the amount of Total Nitrogen in volatile liquid samples with an excellent repeatability (RSD) at trace levels. All data is stored on the application lab of Trace Elemental Instruments, data details can be sent upon request. For more information regarding TE Instruments’ XPLORER Series, contact our Sales Team or your local distributor.

TE Instruments is leading manufacturer of trace elemental instruments for the analysis of Chloride, Nitrogen and Sulfur in liquids, solids, gases and LPG’s for industrial, petrochemical and environmental applications. 

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