Fast chromatographic methods, e.g. chromatography with supercritical fluids, ion chromatography and especially capillary electrophoresis, are important competitors of chemical sensors in environmental monitoring and process control. These methods show high selectivity and low interferences and it is possible to determine several parameters within a single chromatographic run. In order to show the potential and limitation of sensor systems and chromatographic separation methods in environmetal analysis this review is limited to applications in this field. With regard to practical problems a comparison of ion chromatography (IC), capillary electrophoresis (CE) and electrochemical sensors is given for a special example, the ion analysis in waste water. Authentic water samples with a high surfactant content from a car-wash are examined, proving the suitability of IC, CE and electrochemical sensors in terms of specifity, sensitivity, reproducibility, analysis time and calibration linearity. The results show that the chromatographic methods are useful techniques in water analysis, yielding good sensitivity, high resolution and short analysis times. In comparison the chemical sensor also shows short analysis times, good sensitivity and a simple instrumental set-up. The disadvantage is the lack of selectivity and the instability of the sensor signal, when the sensor is exposed to the extremely complex matrix. Good results could only be achieved by pretreatment of the sample solution.
