Abstract
The reaction rate, equilibrium, and flow injection analysis methods were fundamentally evaluated for the determination of aqueous ammonia. The selected indophenol blue method was based on the formation of indophenol blue in which ammonium ion reacted with hypochlorite and phenol in alkaline solution. In the optimized reaction condition, the reaction followed 1st order reaction kinetics and the final product was stable. The absorbance measurements before and after the equilibrium were utilized for the reaction rate and equilibrium methods. The reaction rate methods, based on the relative analytical signals for the possibility of eliminating interferents, were shown to have good linear calibration curves but the detection limit and the calibration sensitivity were poorer than those in the equilibrium method. The detection limits were 32-49 pub and 24 pub for the reaction rate and equilibrium methods, respectively In the flow injection analysis, the absorbance was measured before the equilibrium reached and thus resulted in 30% reduction of calibration sensitivity. However, the detection limit was 11 ppb, indicating that the peak-to-peak noise for the blank was remarkably improved. Compared to the manual methods, the optimized experimental condition in a closed reaction system reduced the blank absorbance and the inclusion of ammonia from the atmosphere was prevented. In addition, highly reproducible mixing of sample and reagents and analytical data extracted from continuous recording showed excellent reproducibility.
