Determination of some aliphatic carboxylic acids in anaerobic digestion process waters by ion-exclusion chromatography with conductimetric detection on a weakly acidic cation-exchange resin column

The determination of seven aliphatic carboxylic acids, formic, acetic, propionic, isobutyric, n-butyric, isovaleric and n-valeric acids in anaerobic digestion process waters was examined using ion-exclusion chromatography with conductimetric detection. The analysis of these biologically important carboxylic acids is necessary as a measure for evaluating and controlling the process. The ion-exclusion chromatography system employed consisted of polymethacrylate-based weakly acidic cation-exchange resin columns (TSKgel OApak-A or TSKgel Super IC-A/C), weakly acidic eluent (benzoic acid), and conductimetric detection. Particle size and cation-exchange capacity were 5 μm and 0.1 meq./ml for TSKgel OApak-A and 3 μm and 0.2 meq./ml for TSKgel Super IC-A/C, respectively. A dilute eluent (1.0–2.0 mM) of benzoic acid was effective for the high resolution and highly conductimetric detection of the carboxylic acids. The good separation of isobutyric and n-butyric acids was performed using the TSKgel Super IC-A/C column (150 mm×6.0 mm i.d. × 2). The simple and good chromatograms were obtained by the optimized ion-exclusion chromatography conditions for real samples from mesophilic anaerobic digestors, thus the aliphatic carboxylic acids were successfully determined without any interferences.