Membraneless vaporization unit for direct analysis of solid sample

Abstract

A new apparatus, called 'membraneless vaporization' (MBL-VP) unit was designed and developed for direct analysis of solid samples. Solid analyte was converted into a gaseous form which then reacts with an indicator reagent. Change in absorbance was used to quantitate the analyte. Stirring with a magnetic bar was employed to facilitate the evaporation of the gas. Unlike the pervaporation technique, hydrophobic membrane was not required for this MBL-VP technique. Application of the membraneless technique for direct determination of calcium carbonate in calcium supplements, has shown to be very precise (R.S.D. = 2.5% for 0.16 mmol CO32-), with detection limit of 0.5 mg CaCO3. Results by this method agreed well with flame atomic absorption spectrometric method. Sample throughput was 20 samples h-1. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.