An online method to determine chlorine stable isotope composition by continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CF-IRMS) coupled with a Gasbench II

An online method using continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CF-IRMS) interfaced with a Gasbench II was presented to determine chlorine stable isotope composition. Silver chloride (AgCl) was quantitatively derived from chloride by using silver nitrate (AgNO3), and then was reacted with iodomethane (CH3I) to produce methyl chloride (CH3Cl). A GasBench II equipped with a PoraPlot Q column was used to separate CH3Cl from any other gas species. Finally, chlorine stable isotope analysis was carried out on CH3Cl introduced to the IRMS in a helium stream via an active open split. The minimum amount of Cl used in this method is of the order of 1.4 μmol. Inter-laboratory and inter-technique comparisons show that the total uncertainty incorporating both the precision and accuracy of this method is better than 0.007%. Furthermore, ten seawaters sampled from different locations have a narrow δ37Cl value range from −0.008% to 0.010%, with a mean value of (0.000±0.006)%. This supports the assumption that any seawater can be representative of standard mean ocean chloride (SMOC) and used as an international reference material.