Analysis of Highly Mineralized Aqueous Solutions by ICP-AES, a Non-Dilution Method with Multi-Wavelength Calibration for Major, Minor and Trace Elements

Standard EPA methods using Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) expect that samples will be fairly dilute without an overabundance of dissolved constituents. However, geochemical samples with more than 2000ppm dissolved solids may give incorrect results when running methods as written. This application note demonstrates an analysis method that uses low-sensitivity analytical lines for the high-concentration major components and high-sensitivity analytical lines for the low-concentration trace components. This eliminates the need for multiple dilutions to get major elements on-scale.