Micropowder collecting technique for stable isotope analysis of carbonates

Micromilling is a conventional technique used in the analysis of the isotopic composition of geological materials, which improves the spatial resolution of sample collection for analysis. However, a problem still remains concerning the recovery ratio of the milled sample. We constructed a simple apparatus consisting of a vacuum pump, a sintered metal filter, electrically conductive rubber stopper and a stainless steel tube for transferring the milled powder into a reaction vial. In our preliminary experiments on carbonate powder, we achieved a rapid recovery of 5 to 100 µg of carbonate with a high recovery ratio (>90%). This technique shortens the sample preparation time, improves the recovery ratio, and homogenizes the sample quantity, which, in turn, improves the analytical reproducibility. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.