Determination of inorganic corrosion inhibitors in heat transfer systems by ion chromatography

In water-based heating and cooling circuits monoethylene glycol is frequently used as an anti-freezing agent. For corrosion protection inhibitors based on nitrite, molybdate or amines are commonly added. The determination of nitrite is usually performed by ion chromatography (IC) using an IonPac AS14 analytical column for the anion separation and a suppressed conductivity detection. Local overheating in some circuits causes degradation of ethylene glycol and leads to the formation of some organic acids. Under such chemical conditions the correct quantification of nitrite becomes a more complex analytical task due to the interference of the organic acids. This problem was solved using the IonPac AS9-HC separation column. In heat transfer systems, where nitrite is not stable, molybdate can be used as an inhibitor for corrosion protection. In these cases photometric methods are recommended for monitoring the molybdate concentration. However, due to the dark brown colour and turbidity of aged glycol solutions photometric methods were not applicable. Thus the use of IC offered a reliable alternative for the determination of molybdate, also in aged glycol solutions, using IonPac AS9-HC or AS14 columns for separation.