ENERGY, ENVIRONMENTAL & CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Molecular and Nanoscale Analysis Laboratory

ICP-MS Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometer (Agilent 7500 ce)
Instrument for Routine Elemental Analysis

          Introduction

         Inductively Coupled Plasma is commonly abbreviated as ICP. It is a fast, high              

     sensitivity, high resolution instrument that is capable of of multi-element analysis simultaneously.

    Structure of the ICP

    The major components of the instrument are:

        Power Supply: mainly provides the energy for the argon plasma.

        Argon Gas: provides argon gas to the plasma and cooling gas to the torch.

        Cooling System: removes any excess amount of heat from the system, specially the RF

        system.

        Sampling System: includes the pump and aerosol to feed the system and autosampler.

        Optical Unit: distinguishes the signals from different wavelengths, amplify the signal and

        covert an optical signal to an electrical signal.

        Standard Operation Procedure (SOP)  Of ICP

        Turn on ICP 

• Turn gas supply on at the cylinder (green knob tip points towards hose)
• Make sure the locking lever on the plasma compartment door is securely latched.
• Switch PC Monitor on
• Switch on Water Cooler
• Turn on the power to the instrument (front panel I/O switch to green light on)

Wavelength Calibration

 Note:  It is recommended that the system be allowed to warm up for at least 15 minutes before the wavelength calibration is carried out.
    A wavelength calibration determines the grating position/wavelength relationship. You must  perform a wavelength calibration before the instrument can be used. The grating is calibrated using a number of Hg lines in various diffraction orders.

• Go to the Wavelength Calibration page of the Instrument Setup window (click ‘Instrument’ icon on start-up page).
• Click Calibrate.

     The instrument will switch on the Hg lamp and allow it to warm up before starting the calibration.
     The grating is calibrated using eleven Hg lines to determine the grating position/wavelength
     relationship.  When the calibration is complete, the instrument is ready for the plasma to be 
     ignited.

    Ignite Plasma

• Put sample tubing in DI water.
• Click “Plasma On”.
• Gas pressure should be at 70 pis.
• Wait 30 minutes for stabilization.

    Performing a torch alignment scan

• Place the sample pump tubing from the peristaltic pump into a 5 ppm Mn solution.
• Click Instrument Setup on the Window menu. The Instrument Setup window will be opened.
• Click the Torch Align
• Perform a horizontal scan by clicking Torch Scan on the Torch Align page.
• (When you perform a torch alignment scan, you should expect to see a scan result similar to a guass curve.)
• Put sample tubing back into MilliQ water.

• From the STARTUP page, click Worksheet icon

• For a new worksheet click New
• Highlight Quantitative
• Name the new worksheet and click save.
• From the Method Page click Edit Method: Open the Method Editor by clicking the icon on the toolbar.
• On the Element page, select the elements you wish to analyze. For each elements you can chose up to three different wavelength.
• Click the Standards tab, then follow these steps:
      a) Enter the number of calibration standards required. As you add standards, columns will be added to the Standard concentrations table.
      b) Select the units required by clicking the Units cell and choosing from the displayed list.
      c) Type the concentrations for each standard.
      d) Leave the Correlation coefficient limit at its default value of 0.995000. The MultiCal parameters table can remain unchanged. e) Click Weight Fit box