Issue 11, 2020

Absolute isotope ratios of carbon dioxide – a feasibility study

Abstract

One way of obtaining isotope ratios, traceable to the International System of Units, is the gravimetric isotope mixtures method. Adapting this method to carbon dioxide is challenging since measuring all twelve isotopologues at once with a gas mass spectrometer is currently not possible. The calculation of the mass bias correction factors is no straightforward task due to the fact that the isotopic equilibrium has to be considered. This publication demonstrates a potential way of adapting this method to carbon dioxide while considering isotope equilibrium. We also show how we prepared binary blends from enriched/depleted carbon dioxide parent gases and how equilibrating the different gases by heating affects the measurements. Furthermore, we reveal mathematical limitations of our approach when the gases are not in isotope equilibrium and which issues occur due to measurement limitations. In a simulation, using authentic data, we asses our approach in terms of achievable uncertainties and discuss further improvements, like using atomic spectroscopy methods.

Graphical abstract: Absolute isotope ratios of carbon dioxide – a feasibility study

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
10 iyl 2020
Accepted
19 avq 2020
First published
09 sen 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2020,35, 2545-2564

Absolute isotope ratios of carbon dioxide – a feasibility study

L. Flierl, O. Rienitz, P. J. Brewer, H. A. J. Meijer and F. M. Steur, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2020, 35, 2545 DOI: 10.1039/D0JA00318B

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