I'm currently writing a report assessing the use of ion chromatography within all areas of the chromatography industry.

What I'd really like are your views on the future of the topic. Does it have one ? What are the major stumbling blocks which stop the technique being more widely used ?

I've written my views but need to compile an industry wide picture that takes other users views into account.

If you want to remain anon. it's OK - I'm after a total number, not pinning down individuals to ask more questions !!

Thanks for your help

Stella

From a major water utility company in Southern California, I'll tell you yes. IC analyzes ions in water that are otherwise unmeasurable with other instruments or techniques, especially anions. There are regulated compliance monitoring going on on the daily basis in the enviromental industry which is heavily dependent on IC for anion analyses. For cations, the dependence on IC is less, because there are better techniques, such as ICP or ICP-MS, to handle trace metals. However, cation IC may still have life when speciation is important, i.e., if you want to know not only the total, but also specific coumpound related metal information. I suggest that you contact companies such as DIONEX as your starting point.

For what its worth, I spent two years working almost exclusively with ion chromatography in an environmental lab. I believe that the future is bright but somewhat limited. The technique is almost essential in examining waste water and drinking water samples for anions. However, as stated before, cations are analyzed better with an ICP or other trace metal method.

One possible barrier to the expansion of ion chromatography comes in the form of capillary electrophoresis and its applications to the analysis of anions and cations. This technique is cheaper than chromatography and can analyze at lower levels than non-suppressed chromatography systems. If the minor flaws of the capillary technology can be overcome, then I forsee that it could potentially replace the ion chromatograph.