Reduction of the detection limits of anions in polar ice core analysis using correlation ion chromatography with detector signal processing

Non-suppressed ion chromatography is usually a sensitivity deficit for polar ice core anionic content analysis. In the present study a method for signal improvement was tested. Ice core samples were injected into the chromatograph according to a pseudo-random binary sequence. The chromatogram was calculated by correlating the detector signal with the input sequence. The results demonstrated that the method used gives increased sensitivity and is applicable for performing ice core analysis but also requires high reproducibility of injection system, preliminary sample modification and relatively large sample volume. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.