Boost your environmental analysis with Metrohm automated ion chromatography

Nearly every chemist begins his or her path under the guidance of trained professionals, learning the correct way to implement the scientific method and to handle themselves safely in the laboratory. I am no different—I obtained my doctorate in Analytical and Environmental Chemistry several years ago. In the early 2000's, I worked in the environmental analysis sector investigating soil contamination due to heavy metals and chemical spills, measuring water quality, and especially performing studies relating to atmospheric chemistry. During these years, I’ve been exposed to several analytical technologies, varied laboratory sizes, and different sample preparation procedures.

A common theme runs throughout these different places—the hunt for more time and a bigger budget. However, with the right tools at your disposal, you can have your cake and eat it, too.

Authorities and regulations

With that in mind, local and governmental authorities have developed and enforced several regulations for the good of public health.

One of the more well-known authorities on the subject is the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Under the Clean Air Act (enacted in 1970) and Clean Water Act (1972), as well as the requirement to report the use and disposal of toxic chemical substances (TRI reporting), several norms and standards have been developed over the intervening years to meet the stringent guidelines brought forth in these and other regulations.

In the world of water analysis, one of the most common methods you will hear about is EPA Method 300. The methods 300.0 and 300.1 give detailed instructions to chemical analysts regarding measurement of common anions (Part A) and inorganic disinfection byproducts (Part B) in water via ion chromatography.

Interested in EPA Method 300.1? Enjoy a free selection of our related IC application notes below:

Disinfection byproducts and standard anions according to EPA 300.1 A & B

Bromate in water with conductivity detection: optimized separation and LOQ

Online determination of bromate and other disinfection byproducts in drinking & bottled water with IC

Time to crunch the numbers!

A 30 day study was performed on a Metrohm IC system with automatic ultrafiltration and dilution by an environmental analysis laboratory in the US. This lab, like many others, processes a high volume of samples, including some with a limited shelf life. Reliability is therefore a particularly important criterion when it comes to buying a new system.

Economic considerations also play a key role: a new system should pay for itself as quickly as possible; it needs to be generating a return on investment after a year at the latest.

So, how did we perform in the study? We tested several parameters, including:

• Filtration
• Suppression
• Separation Columns
• Dilution
• Robustness

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Overall, using Metrohm separation columns saves nearly $18,000 in one year for a high-throughput environmental analysis laboratory.

Dilution

If the determination indicates that the analyte concentration is too high, i.e., outside the permissible determination range, the sample must be diluted and reanalyzed.

This is the situation for around 30% of the samples at the laboratory involved in this study. Manual dilution takes the lab staff at least three minutes per sample. With labor costs of approximately $18 USD per hour, this adds up to annual costs of $3,800.

Robustness

Significant cost savings weren’t the only benefit of the Metrohm analysis system – the 30 day comparison study also revealed a number of other advantages. The company was impressed with the robustness of the instrument and with its ability to measure the entire range of samples processed in their laboratory.

Its stable calibration also made it possible to reduce the calibration frequency: the new system only needs calibrating every two to three weeks instead of every two to three days.

The most impressive features, though, were the high measuring sensitivity and the large linear range of the detector. Thanks to the latter, only 2% of the samples remain outside the measuring range and have to be diluted – compared to 30% with the old system.

Final Results

The 30 day test proved to the lab in question that the Metrohm IC with the integrated automatic inline sample preparation techniques saves both material and labor costs. Furthermore, it also offers a number of improvements in terms of analysis performance compared to the systems previously used on site.

The most significant savings are those for labor and material costs as a result of using ultrafiltration, followed by those resulting from the longer service life of the separation column.

For the final savings calculation over an entire year, download our White Paper on the subject below.

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