Flow system to gas capture from a nebulized solution Original Research Article

The use of aerosol produced in a nebulization chamber is proposed as an alternative to gas sample capture in flow systems. This paper describes the coupling of a sampling interface with a flow system, for in situ gas monitoring. Aspects related with the behavior of aerosol formation and gas solubilization in liquid drops are discussed. The method is applied to the determination of residual lime in acidic soils. Aliquots of 5.0 ml of 1.0 mol l−1 HCl were mixed with soil samples (1 g). The CO2 released from these samples was captured by a nebulized aerosol and determined conductivity. The analytical curve from 1.0×10−2 to 5.0×10−2 mol kg−1 CaCO3 was ploted applying the matrix matching approach. This proposition, allowed an increase in the sensibility with detection limit of 6.0×10−3 mol kg−1. The precision was good (R.S.D. <3%) for an analytical frequency of 22 determinations per hour. A fair agreement, at 95% confidence level, was found between the results from the proposed method and certified values of the investigated samples.