We introduce a technique for the direct measurement of elemental mercury in light hydrocarbons such as natural gas. We determined elemental mercury at the parts-per-trillion level with high precision [<3% RSD (n = 20 manual injection)] using gas chromatography with ultraviolet photometric detection (GC-UV) at 254 nm. Our approach requires a small sample volume (1 mL) and does not rely on any form of sample preconcentration. The GC-UV separation employs an inert divinylbenzene porous layer open tubular column set to separate mercury from other components in the sample matrix. We incorporated a 10-port gas-sampling valve in the GC-UV system, which enables automated sampling, as well as back flushing capability to enhance system cleanliness and sample throughput. Total analysis time is <2 min, and the procedure is linear over a range of 2–83 μg/m³ [correlation coefficient of R² = 0.998] with a measured recovery of >98% over this range.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Chemical Sciences
Research Group:	Analytical chemistry
Research Field:	Separation science
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in the chemical sciences
UTAS Author:	Gras, R (Ms Ronda Gras)
UTAS Author:	Luong, J (Mr Jim Luong)
UTAS Author:	Shellie, RA (Professor Robert Shellie)
ID Code:	105904
Year Published:	2015
Web of Science® Times Cited:	13
Deposited By:	Austn Centre for Research in Separation Science
Deposited On:	2016-01-20
Last Modified:	2018-03-17
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