• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.269-276
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• 1992

An ion-exchange/conductometric method is applied for the determination of total acidity in simulated atmospheric samples. Non-$H^+$ cations and strong acid anions are enriched by the preconcentrator columns in series and eluted through the corresponding parallel suppressor units. The conductivities from each channel correspond to the concentrations of the resulting ionized species in equivalents per unit volume. The difference is the measure of acidity due to strong acids. With 5-min sampling at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min, the detection limits for ${NH_4}^+$ and ${SO_4}^{2-}$ are 0.3 and $0.1{\mu}equiv/L$, respectively. The acidity for samples composed of various ions can be determined without significant error, usually less than 5%. The proposed method discriminates against the artifact from the $CO_2$ dissolution. Principles of acidity measurements are also presented.