Novel ion chromatography technique for the rapid identification and quantification of saturated and unsaturated low molecular weight organic acids formed during the Fenton oxidation of organic pollutants

The Fenton oxidation process is one of the most widely used technologies in the oxidation of organic pollutants. The identification and quantification of end products of these oxidation processes is of prime importance due to environmental concerns of pollution and toxicity. In this work, we have developed a highly sensitive, cheap, easy and rapid method of determining low molecular weight mono and dicarboxylic acids using ion exclusion chromatography with inverse chemical suppression and conductivity detection. Eleven organic acids were simultaneously separated in 22 min with detection limits ranging from 10 to 500 ppb and limits of quantification from 0.05 to 50 ppm. The method was tested and proved to be accurate, reproducible, precise and highly sensitive. Linearity was in the range of R2: 0.977–0.999, with a percentage error of less than 2% for oxalic and maleic acids, and less than 1% for the rest of the organic acids studied.