SE-2 determination by ion chromatography

Identifier:  TFG:296

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TFG296

Authors:  Estalella Rodríguez, Maria

Abstract:
One of the main products is required to have its quality determinate since it is expected to be introduced to quality control programmes. Therefore, the aim of this project is to develop and validate not only a method that allows the determination of SE-2, sulphites and sulphates from Hostapon SI, which is an anionic surfactant, but also all of them at once. It has been carried out by ionic chromatography. The SE-2 is formed as a result of a secondary reaction in which the Hostapon SI reacts with a second mole of ethylene oxide. As far as sulphites are concerned, they are starting reagents that haven’t reacted, and the oxidation process of that results in the formation of sulphates. Since there was no chromatographic method for this equipment it was necessary to find the chromatographic conditions. Three separation columns and two types of mobile phase have been evaluated, carbonate/bicarbonate and NaOH, and it has been noted that the best option was 5mM NaOH. The flow of the mobile phase, the dilution of the sample and the temperature of the oven has been also optimised. Finally, the key to create a good separation of SE-2 has been to dilute the sample more. Once the chromatographic condition had been met, the next step was the validation. The limit of detection, the limit of quantification, the instrumental repeatability, the method repeatability, the reproducibility and the recuperation parameters have been evaluated. The obtained values have been acceptable except the reproducibility and the recuperation, something that could have been caused by some issues in the injection or integration problems. In order to improve the data obtained in the validation, the conditions should be optimised to obtain a more suitable separation and integration of the peaks.