ICP-MS

  • Agilent 7900 Benchtop Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer system - ICP-MS

        Agilent_ICP-MS 7900_Specifications.pdf

           Atomic_ASTS-2014_7900_ICPMS.pdf

           

 

EPA methods:

Method 6020 : Inductively Coupled - Mass Spectrometry;
Method 200.8: Determination of trace elements in waters and wastes by Inductively Coupled - Mass Spectrometry.


In addition to a traditional quantitative analysis, the ICP-MS allows to perform fast semi-quantitative analysis of unknown samples, when an external calibration is not required (it is accurate to +/-30% or better on completely unknown samples).

 

The ICP-MS serves the purpose of performing metals analysis on solution. It can be used for the determination of metals in a wide variety of sample types (drinking water, groundwater, other aqueous samples, industrial wastes, soils, sludge, sediments, and other solid samples) in different application areas such as Environmental, Chemicals/Petrochemicals, Pharmaceutical, Semiconductor Manufacturing, Metallurgy, etc. However, there is no universal single technique, which will suit all of analytical needs. Your choice of technique/instrument should be based on the criteria summarized in the following table.

Descriptions

AAS

GFAAS ICP-MS
Detection Limit Very good for some elements
(in the sub-ppm range)
Excellent for some elements
(in the sub-ppb range)
Excellent for most elements
(typically, 1-10 ppt)
Speed/Sample Throughput Speed/Sample Throughput Slow
(3-4 mins per element)
Fast
(All elements in <1 min)
Dynamic Range 103 102 109

Interferences:

Spectral

Chemical (matrix)

Physical (matrix)

 

Very few

Many

Some

 

Very few

Many

Very few

 

few

Many

Some

Multi-Element No No Yes
Elements Applicable to 68+ 50+ 82 (all metals from lithium to uranium)
Sample Volumes Required Large (ml) Very small (μl) Very small (μl or ml)
Semiquantitative Analysis No No Yes
Isotopic Analysis No No Yes
Ease to Use Very easy Moderately easy Moderately easy
Method Development Easy Difficult Difficult
Running Costs Low Medium High