CONTINUOUS ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING OF NICKEL CARBONYL BY FOURIER-TRANSFORM INFRARED SPECTROMETRY AND PLASMA CHROMATOGRAPHY

Nickel carbonyl was successfully monitored in a plant environment by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) and plasma chromatography (PC). Instrumentation based on both techniques proved capable of automatic, continuous monitoring of sub-one-part-per-billion (ppb) levels. The practical limits of detection were estimated at about 0.2 to 0.3 ppb, the precision at ±0.2 ppb, and the accuracy at ±0.5 ppb at the 1-ppb level in the environmental air of a process control room. Good correlation between the two instruments in side-by-side testing implied that the recommended wet chemical method gave both spuriously high and spuriously low monitoring data. © 1979, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.