Simultaneous determination of fluorine, chlorine and bromine in cement with ion chromatography after pyrolysis

A rapid method for simultaneous determination of fluorine, chlorine and bromine in cement with ion chromatography after pyrolysis was proposed for routine quality control analysis. The elements were separated from cement sample by pyrolysis, and were subsequently determined with ion chromatograpy. A pyrolysis method was investigated for the separation of micro amounts of these elements from cement. Total time taken to determine these elements is about 45 min including 25 min for the pyrolysis and 18 min for ion chromatography. The results of recovery tests ranged 95% or above. The limits of detection for F, Cl and Br are 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5 mg kg−1, respectively. The method was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of F, Cl and Br in commercial ordinary Portland cements.