A Comparison Between a Direct Mercury Analyser and ICP-MS

Analysis of mercury by ICPMS has historically been a challenge for the laboratory. The first step in analysis involves sample preparation that can lead to mercury loss, contamination, and carry over problems. Removing contamination is costly as it uses gold solution and also affects productivity. Analysts sometimes try and overcome these problems by diluting the sample but this impacts on sensitivity and increases errors through dilution.

Many laboratories are now using a direct mercury analyser (DMA) alongside their ICPMS as it has the advantage of not requiring any sample preparation or additional reagents. This eliminates the risk of mercury loss and cross contamination. The Milestone DMA-80 evo system is capable of measuring mercury to low ppt levels in solids and liquids with a total run time under six minutes. The system does not require daily calibration and has the advantage of ‘running on air’ that removes the requirement for in-house or bottled gases.  

A paper review discussing DMA vs ICPMS is available from Analytix and explains principles of operation of the DMA along with results comparing the two techniques. 

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