This application brief outlines the determination of cations and ammonium in environmental waters using a Thermo Scientific Dionex IonPac CS16 column on a Dionex Easion IC system in DCR mode.
Introduction
In the United States (U.S.), water quality is regulated through the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA) and enforced through the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). As a well-accepted technique, ion chromatography (IC) has been used for compliance monitoring inorganic anions in water, including surface, ground, drinking, and waste waters following U.S. EPA Methods 300 and 300.1. Although the common alkali and alkaline earth cations, and ammonium are not considered primary drinking water contaminants in the U.S., they are routinely monitored and reported here and are regulated in Europe and Japan. Ammonium is measured in the U.S. for waste water discharge compliance according to the criteria for the protection of aquatic life from the toxic effects of ammonia in freshwater published by U.S. EPA in 2013.
This work demonstrates the determination of cations and ammonium in environmental waters by IC using a Thermo Scientific™ Dionex™ IonPac™ CS16 column set on a Thermo Scientific™ Dionex™ Easion™ Chromatography system in Displacement Chemical Regeneration (DCR) mode.
Experimental
Full details of the experimental conditions can be found by downloading the application note.
Conclusion
This work shows the determination of inorganic cations and ammonium in a drinking water and a waste water sample using the Dionex Easion IC system in DCR mode. The integrated Dionex Easion IC system coupled with the Dionex AS-DV autosampler provides a simple and low-cost instrument setup for routine determination of inorganic cations and ammonium in water samples.