Determination of methane and its deuteride generated from burned ash by high-resolution mass spectrometry

Abstract

A determination method for methane (CH₄) and its deuteride (CD₄) using high-resolution mass spectrometry was developed to study methane generation from burned ash. Since the molecular ion CH₄·⁺ (m/z 16.0313) could be distinguished from the fragment ion CD₂⁺ (m/z 16.0282) by using a mass spectrometer having a resolution up to 12000, CH₄ and CD₄ could both be determined by the proposed method. This method was successfully applied to the determination of a small amount of CH₄ in CD₄ generated from fly ash which was treated with a D₂O solution containing NaOD as a model experiment.