Providing elemental analyses for the processing of fine chemicals demands analyzing major, minor, and trace element concentrations of a wide range of substances. These include high-purity acids and salts, catalysts, battery components, pigments, fibers, substrates, and other materials to produce pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and various organic or inorganic chemical products. Typical samples may be pure chemical substances or complex mixtures. Depending on the substance, samples must be analyzed on an intermittent basis: from a few times per hour to several times a week.
High-quality spectrometric elemental analysis is critical, because these products are made to exacting specifications. Requirements for lower limits of detection (LODs) and stricter regulation of impurities are ever-increasing, as are tighter controls to reduce raw materials usage, costs, and time. Thus, making fine chemicals requires a spectrometer with a number of special characteristics.
Fortunately, the latest iteration of a leading ICP-OES spectrometer model fulfills all the requirements demanded for fine chemicals work. The newest version of the flagship SPECTRO ARCOS ICP-OES analyzer displays unprecedented capability and flexibility in a single instrument. The instrument is offered with a choice of three different plasma-viewing versions (including DSOI and MultiView) and two wavelength choices.
This paper describes capabilities of this next-generation ICP-OES instrument for the analysis of fine chemicals, and outlines the best analytical solutions for today — and tomorrow.
