Abstract
An analysis method for halogens in organic materials was examined by air combustion coupled with ion chromatography. In this system, a sample of 0.1 – 0.5 g was weighted and ignited slowly in a quartz combustion tube at 1000°C with air gas at a flow rate of 2.5 L min−1. The combustion products were collected into 20 mL of a 40 mM potassium hydroxide solution in which 20 μL of 3% hydrogen peroxide was added for reducing. Halogens (F, Cl, Br) were determined by ion chromatography. Recoveries for the halogens tested were almost 100 ± 10%. The accuracy of the proposed method was evaluated by analyzing a standard reference material of polyethylene (NMIJ CRM8108-a, AIST Japan and ERM-EC680K, IRMM Belgium). The values of Br and Cl obtained with the present method showed good agreement with the certified values, as judged from standard deviation. The present method was also applied to proficiency testing for the determination of bromine in a plastic material. The analytical results for the z score were 0.199 (low con.) and − 0.597 (high con.).
