Simultaneous Determination of Fluorine and Chlorine in Marine and Stream Sediment by Ion Chromatography Combined with Alkaline Digestion in a Bomb

Abstract

Fluorine and chlorine are important tracers for geochemical and environmental studies. In this study, a rapid alkaline digestion (NaOH) method for the simultaneous determination of fluorine and chlorine in marine and stream sediment reference samples using ion chromatography is developed. The proposed method suppresses the volatilization loss of fluorine and chlorine and decreases the matrix effects. The results are in good agreement with fluorine ~100%, chlorine ranging from 90 to 95% of the expected concentrations. The detection limits of this method were 0.05 μg/g for fluorine and 0.10 μg/g for chlorine. This method is simple, economical, precise and accurate, which shows great potential for the rapid simultaneous determination of fluorine and chlorine in large batches of geological and environmental samples commonly analyzed for environmental geochemistry studies.