Analysis of Adsorbable Organic Fluorine (AOF) by Combustion Ion Chromatography(CIC)

User Benefits

- The combination of the combustion unit and IC can perform AOF analysis according EPA Draft Method 1621. - AOF analysis is a simplified and useful technique for screening PFAS. - The CIC system enables automation of the entire process from sample combustion to ion chromatography analysis.

Introduction

The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has published Draft Method 1621, a screening method for the determination of AOF in aqueous matrices by CIC . This method detects organic fluorine compounds that are dissolved in water and adsorbed by passing the sample through a column of granular activated carbon (GAC). The common sources of organic fluorine compounds are PFAS and non-PFAS fluorinated compounds such as pesticides and pharmaceuticals. CIC system, AOF compounds adsorbed on the GAC from the sample are decomposed by combustion. The generated combustion gas containing fluorine is collected in an absorbing solution and analyzed by ion chromatography. An advantage of this technique is that it provides information on the total amount of PFAS that may not be targeted by other selective chromatography methods. In this article, we introduce the analysis of AOF with CIC. Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), the prescribed spiking compound in EPA Draft Method 1621, was evaluated for determining the initial precision and recovery (IPR) and a river water sample analyzed.

February 22, 2024 GMT