ICP-OES 5800, analysis of extracts

Question

Hi,
I want to know, for the elemental analysis of extracts containing alcohol by ICP-OES, is it necessary to carry out distillation of the extract to get rid of alcohol?
since I know that alcohol can damage the torch, I have always acid-mineralised the residue obtained after distillation in a microwave oven and then analyse it with ICP-OES.

edgarvs · Answer

A certain amount of alcohol shouldn't be a problem for the ICP-OES hardware. In fact it's possible to analyses pure alcohol but with other sample introduction parts, like a smaller torch injector or pump tubing. For the case that the amount of alcohol isn't above 15-20% then I don't think that an other sample introduction is needed beside the standard 1.8 mm injector and white/white pump tubing (for dual view). 
 Other sample intro parts are needed to avoid to much sample load that could be shut off the plasma due to overload the plasma. 
 Recommended is to matrix match the standaards with the samples with alcohol if more then 2-4% of alcohol is measured. 
 
 good luck with the measurements.