Determination of Chelating Agents in Drinking Water and Wastewater Samples

This study describes the determination of μg/L concentrations of four aminopolycarboxylate chelates, EDTA, NTA, DTPA, and EGTA, in municipal drinking water and wastewater samples. The chelating agents are separated by ion chromatography (IC) on a highcapacity IonPac® AS7 anion-exchange column using methanesulfonic acid to elute the analytes in 16 min followed by pulsed amperometric detection (PAD) with a Pt working electrode. The IonPac AS7 column is designed for separating polyvalent anions and therefore is ideal for this application.