SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF LOW-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT ORGANIC-ACIDS IN SOIL SOLUTION BY ION CHROMATOGRAPHY

A simple and precise ion chromatographic (IC) method for determination of citric, malonic, succinic, formic, acetic and propionic acids in soil solution was developed. It requires a prior cleanup to the soil solution samples by anion exchange resin (AG1‐X8) and determination of organic acids using a Dionex Model 2010i IC. Separation of organic acids by IC permitted their quantitation by conductivity measurements, following suppression of background conductivity by a fiber suppressor. A high degree of precision was achieved in the quantitation of organic acids studied. With the IC method, citric, malonic, succinic, formic, acetic and propionic acids can be determined simultaneously in 16 min. A single operator can analyze about 30 samples in a single working day. Copyright © 1990 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim