Single-column ion-chromatographic determination of chromium(VI) in aqueous soil and sludge extracts

Single-column ion-chromatography (SCIC) was investigated as a routine, rapid, precise and selective analytical method for the determination of chromium(VI) in aqueous extracts of soil and sewage sludge. Chromatographic parameters were optimized for determination of Cr(VI), NO(-)(3) and SO(2-)(4). A low-capacity resin-based column was used for the separation and the anions were determined by conductometric detection. p-Hydroxybenzoic acid (5mM) at pH 8.5 was used as the eluent. The limit of detection, defined as S/N = 3, was 92 mug/l. The resolution between Cr(VI) and SO(2-)(4) was 2.8, the precision ranged from 0.9% for NO(-)(3) to 2.0% for Cr(VI) with a 500-mul injection. The SCIC results for Cr(VI) agreed closely with those obtained by inductively coupled argon-plasma emission and spectrophotometry.     

Determination of aminosaccharides by high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection

High-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAC) was used for the determination of aminosaccharides in microbial polymers, chitin, animal waste, sewage sludge, plant residues and soil. The aminosaccharides, galactosamine, mannosamine and glucosamine were separated on a strong anion-exchange column with 1OmM sodium hydroxide as the eluent and determined by pulsed amperometric detection (PAD). The HPAC-PAD methodology was compared with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with refractive index detection (RI) in terms of selectivity and sensitivity for aminosaccharides. The results indicate that HPAC-PAD required less sample preparation, and was more precise and nearly two orders of magnitude more sensitive than HPLC-RI. HPAC-PAD was not subject to matrix interferences and was highly selective for aminosaccharides. More than 3% of the total nitrogen in alfalfa, and 20% of that in straw, was found to be present as aminosaccharides.     

Kernel polynomials for the solution of indefinite and ill-posed problems

We introduce a new family of semiiterative schemes for the solution of ill-posed linear equations with selfadjoint and indefinite operators. These schemes avoid the normal equation system and thus benefit directly from the structure of the problem. As input our method requires an enclosing interval of the spectrum of the indefinite operator, based on some a priori knowledge. In particular, for positive operators the schemes are mathematically equivalent to the so-called -methods of Brakhage. In a way, they can therefore be seen as appropriate extensions of the -methods to the indefinite case. This extension is achieved by substituting the orthogonal polynomials employed by Brakhage in the definition of the -methods by appropriate kernel polynomials. We determine the rate of convergence of the new methods and establish their regularizing properties.     

Determination of saccharides by high performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection

Summary High performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAC) coupled with pulsed amperometric detection (PAD) under alkaline conditions (pH 13) separates neutral saccharides based upon their molecular size, saccharide composition, and glycosidic linkages. Carbohydrates were detected by oxidation with a gold-working electrode. HPAC-PAD was compared to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with refractive index (RI) detection in terms of selectivity and sensitivity of saccharides. The results indicate that HPAC-PAD was more precise, two orders of magnitude more sensitive (pmol range) and gives better resolution of saccharides than HPLC-RI. HPAC-PAD required less sample preparation and was not subjected to matrix interferences. The use of HPAC-PAD was applied to the analysis of organic materials (plant residues, animal wastes and sewage sludge) and soil.     

Simultaneous analysis of selenate and selenite by single-column ion chromatography

Summary A rapid, selective and sensitive method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of selenate [Se(VI)] and selenite [Se(IV)] at trace levels by single-column ion chromatography. p-Hydroxybenzoic acid (4 mM) at pH 8.0 was used as the eluent. A low capacity resin-based anion-exchange column was employed for the separation with conductometric detection for quantification. The method requires minimal sample pretreatment. Resolution (R_s) between Se(VI)/Se(IV) was 6.76. Chloride, nitrate and sulfate did not interfere with selenium separation. The detection limits for Se(VI) and Se(IV) were 0.06 μg/ml and 0.110 μg/ml, respectively. The relative standard deviation using a 500-μl loop was 0.90 to 1.86% for Se(VI) and Se(IV), respectively. The method was applied to analyze seleniferous soil samples.     

Determination of tungstate in soils and sludges by using single-column ion chromatography

A procedure has been developed for the determination of tungstate at trace levels in aqueous extracts of soil and sludge by single-column ion chromatography (SCIC). Chromatographic parameters based on ion selectivity, time of determination and signal response were optimized for tungstate with the simultaneous detection of nitrate and sulfate. Chloride, phosphate, chromate, molybdate and vanadate were found not to interfere in the determination. A low-capacity resin-based column was used for the separation with p-hydroxybenzoic acid (5 mM) at pH 8.5 as the eluent. The limit of detection defined as three times the signal-to-noise ratio was 170 μg l^?1 (2-ml sample). The resolution between tungstate and sulfate was R_s=2.84. The results for aqueous extracts agree closely with those obtained by an accepted spectrophotometric method.