High Quality, High Throughput Acid Production
The ultra-low detection limits of ICP-MS necessitate the use of high purity grade acids for standards, sample dilutions and, increasingly, even for sample digestion. Although commercially available bottled high purity (10 ppt grade) acid is readily available, it costs up to ten times more than trace metal (1 ppb) grade acid. Once opened, and during use, a bottle of high purity acid can easily become contaminated due to airborne contamination and/or analyst error. For these reasons, many labs are producing their own high purity acid using the Savillex DST-1000 Acid Purification System. The DST-1000 produces HNO3, HCl and HF that is as good as or better than commercially available acid (Table 1), is easy to use, has a small footprint, and can pay for itself in months, or even weeks, depending on the laboratory’s acid needs.
Although in-lab production of high purity acid can easily be justified financially, some laboratories prefer to continue to purchase bottled high purity acid. This is because there was no system that could either produce enough acid to meet their needs, or be operated completely unattended thus requiring additional labor. Recently, Savillex released the DST-4000. The quality of acid produced by the new DST-4000 is the same as the DST-1000, however the DST-4000 can produce 1 L of acid in 12 hours – double the throughput of the DST-1000.
Unattended Acid Purification
In addition to higher throughput, the DST-4000 has several other enhanced features (Table 2). Acid (up to 4 L at a time) is simply added via a front fill tube. A temperature setting between 40°C and 90°C is programmed into the external digital controller offering precise control of the production rate. The maximum temperature is well below the boiling point of the acid eliminating potential transport of contaminants along with the distillate.
The DST-4000 combines an acid-level sensor with auto-shutoff to switch off the heater when the distillation is complete allowing for true, walk-away operation. High purity acid is collected in a pair of Purillex™ 2 L PFA bottles fitted with specially designed closures to protect the acid from the environment, ready for use when needed. The in-lab production of high purity acid has never been easier or more convenient.
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Table 1: Comparison of selected key elements in DST produced HNO3, HCl, and HF using a single distillation from trace metal grade (1 ppb) vs. commercially available high purity grade (10 ppt) bottled acid. All data is in ppt.
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Table 2: Features of Savillex’s DST-1000 and DST-4000 Acid Purification Systems |
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