Determination of carbon dioxide and acid components in exhaust gas by suppressed ion chromatography

Although anions are usually determined by suppressed ion chromatography (IC), carbonate and bicarbonate ions can not be determined, because a mixed solution of sodium carbonate and sodium hydrogencarbonate is used as the eluent. This paper describes an IC method for the determination of carbonate ion and common anions using an IonPac AG17/AS17 column, an EG 40 eluent generator and a conductivity detector. The proposed IC method could determine carbonate ion and anions within 6 min. The relative standard deviations (n = 5) for chloride (0.4 mg L-1), nitrite (0.8 mg L-1), carbonate (100 mg L-1), nitrate (1.0 mg L-1) and sulfate (2.0 mg L-1) ions were 5.1%, 1.1%, 4.2%, 5.1% and 1.1%, respectively. In addition, the absorbing solution of carbon dioxide was examined, and 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol was found to be a good absorbing solution. The proposed IC method was applied to the determination of carbon dioxide and acid components in flue gas and automobile exhaust gas.