You might be surprised at the affect your water and reagents have on instrument operation.
Over the course of an analysis, eluent travels through an IC system at a rate of 1,000:1 in comparison to the volume of sample, and that is only when analysing a sample. For this reason, it is very important that water and reagents used to produce eluents are of the highest purity.
Trace metals, bacteria and algae will all have a detrimental effect on the life of a separation column, guard column or in-line filter. System back-pressure will increase while peak shapes are likely to suffer too.
Contamination with anions will have a significant effect on detection limits. When 0.5 ppb of chloride can be detected with direct injection, 1 ppb of chloride in your eluent has a big effect on detection limits.
- How do you ensure water quality?
- Look after your water purification system
- Use only 18.2 MΩ water for eluent production
- Use high quality reagents
- Use dedicated glassware for eluent production
- Clean eluent bottles regularly
Your IC will thank you for it!
