Gas-liquid separator for automated hydride generation and atomic absorption spectrometry

A straightforward phase separator for continuous hydride generation was developed. The separator uses a small plastic syringe that minimizes the typical dead volume of conventional separators and avoids analyte losses by adsorption on glass, The device is simple and easy to fit to any FI system. It was used for the AAS determination of selenium, with a detection limit of 6.5 mu g 1(-1). The method has a reproducibility of 2-3% expressed as the relative standard deviation.