Combustion Ion Chromatography

1. Introduce sample
   Liquid, solid or semisolid samples are introduced into a horizonal furnace at a precisely controlled rate. An autosampler can be used to automate sample delivery or, for gaseous samples, an injector is used.
   
   
2. Perform pyrolysis
   Samples are decomposed in the presence of humidified oxygen at high temperature (800–1100˚C).
   
   
3. Trap volatiles
   Volatile products are trapped in an aqueous absorbing solution. This solution is typically water, but a hydrogen peroxide solution can also be used to determine total sulfate by oxidizing the sulfur species.
   
   
4. Perform ion analysis
   Samples in the absorption solution are transferred to the IC system to determine the concentrations of individual halides and sulfur species (e.g., sulfite, sulfate, and thiosulfate).

C-IC provides accurate and reproducible results for the analysis of halogens and sulfur in a variety of environmental, industrial, and food and beverage samples, often in less than 12 minutes, with minimal method development. Sample types include pharmaceutical raw materials and finished products, polymers, petrochemicals, ores, inks, metals, polishing agents, lubricating oil, electronic components, and environmental or wastewaters.

C-IC can be used as a complementary screening technique to LC-MS/MS for the analysis of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) by determining total adsorbable organic fluorine (AOF) as an indicator of the presence of fluorinated compounds. If the total mass of fluorine present in the sample exceeds that of the targeted PFAS screen, then other PFAS that were not on the target list may be present in the sample. By screening total fluorine, labs can identify additional potential sources contributing to PFAS contamination, enabling them to select and analyze only “suspicious” samples using LC-MS/MS instrumentation. With the addition of AOF determination by C-IC, labs can optimize the utilization of their analytical instrumentation to analyze PFAS in water.

C-IC can also be used to detect PFAS in other materials, including textiles and cosmetics. These materials often have significantly higher PFAS concentrations compared to water, eliminating the need for a concentration step as is required for AOF determinations.