ICP-OES is a reliable, robust, and precise technique that can be used for the elemental analysis for a wide range of applications from the analysis of environmental samples to the process control in the metal industry or to analyze organic samples like oils and fuels.
The largest costs arise from the consumption of argon gas. At standard operating parameters 15-17 L/min are required. Assuming 8 operating hours a day and argon costs of 5 $/€ per cubic meter, this amounts to 10k $/€ per year. For this reason, the question arises whether there are possibilities to reduce the consumption.
Employing state of the art plasma generation technology operation with reduced flows is principally possible. However, since the major flow serves two purposes, as plasma gas on one hand, and to cool and protect the plasma torch on the other, the question is whether sustainable operation is also possible with routine samples, with higher amounts of totally dissolved solids. For this reason, the analysis of soil and water matrix samples with a reduced total argon consumption below 10 L/min was investigated using the SPECTROGREEN ICP-OES with dual side-on plasma observation.
Learn more in this informative application report.