The ion-exclusion chromatography (IEC) for the simultaneous determination of NO
3-, NO
2-, and NH
4+ in biological nitrification-denitrification process water was investigated. This method consists of the combination of the IEC on a cation exchange resin in the H
+ -form with UV-detection for determining NO
3-and NO
2- and the IEC on an anion exchange resin in the OH
--form with coulometry-detection for determinig NH
4+. These IEC systems are coupled with a“delay coil tube” (1 mm i. d. × 10 m long) to separate NH
4+ peak from a “ghost peak” of cations such as Na
+, K
+, Mg
2+, and Ca
2+ caused by the imcomplete cation exchange reaction in the H
+-form cation exchange resin column. The liquid chromatograph equiped with one delively pump (1 ml/min), dual sample injector (0.1 ml each), H
+-cation exchange resin column (9 mm i. d. × 110 mm long), OH
--form anion exchange resin column (9 mm i. d. × 550 mm long), UV detector (210 nm), and flow coulometry detector (OH
- detection) was used. The same sample solution is simultaneously injected onto each column with each sample loop, and chromatographed by the ion-exclusion. Only one kind of eluent (10 % methanol-water) was used for the separation of NO
3-, NO
2-, and NH
4+. The simultaneous determination of NO
3-, NO
2-, and NH
4+ in the actual samples was accomplished within 30 min with satisfactory results.
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