Application of a contactless conductivity detector to the determination of inorganic ions in ion chromatography

The contactless conductivity detector was connected to ion chromatographs operating in both, the non-suppressed and suppressed modes and the analytical parameters of the contactless and the conventional commercial contact detectors were compared by using solutions of standards. The performance of the contactless detector in terms of reproducibility, linearity of calibration curve and detection limit was found to be largely identical to the commercial detectors in both systems. The usefulness of the new detector was further demonstrated with some real samples ( tap, mineral and rain water). The contactless conductivity detector, which does not show electrode fouling and is simple in design and inexpensive, was thus found to be a suitable substitute for conventional detectors in ion chromatography.