Green Aspects of Ion Chromatography versus Other Methods in the Analysis of Common Inorganic Ions

Abstract

Due to the increasing environmental awareness of the public, green chemistry has become an important element of environmental protection. In laboratories around the world, millions of analyses of inorganic and organic anions and cations in water and wastewater samples, and solid and gaseous samples are performed daily. Unfortunately, these activities still generate large costs, including environmental costs, which are related to the scale of the studies, the use of toxic chemical reagents, the waste generated, and the energy consumed. The methods used so far for inorganic ion analysis, including classical methods, are increasingly being replaced by instrumental methods, primarily based on ion chromatography. This paper presents the most important advantages and limitations of ion chromatography, and compares them with the costs of classical analyses for the analytes and sample types. Both the financial and environmental costs associated with the determination of common inorganic ions, such as Cl−, NO2−, NO3−, and NH4+, in 1000 environmental samples, were compared using selected reference wet classical methods and ion chromatography. The advantages and limitations of ion chromatography that allow this separation technique to be classified as a green analytical chemistry method have been described herein.