Perchlorate Analysis with the AS16 Separation Column

Abstract

Perchlorate is a powerful oxidant used in solid-rocket propellant mixtures, fireworks, and munitions. The presence of trace level perchlorate in drinking water poses a potential health risk, resulting from perchlorate’s ability to interfere with the thyroid gland’s uptake of iodide to produce thyroid hormones. The current EPA’s recommended acceptable level for perchlorate in drinking water is 18 parts per billion (ppb). Since perchlorate is better known for it’s commercial and industrial applications, past occurrence studies have focused on water wells near regions where munitions, aerospace components, and fireworks were manufactured, developed and tested. Perchlorate has been reported in drinking water sources in the states of California, Utah, Nevada, West Virginia, and Texas.^1–6 However, recent reports have suggested that naturally occurring perchlorate is also present in fertilizers, nitrate deposits from northern Chile, and minerals from arid environments. These new findings have sparked intense efforts in the study of natural perchlorate occurrence in non-aqueous matrices, and in the development of new methodologies to support these studies.

This work was not presented at the 218th national meeting of the American Chemical Society held August 22–24, 1999, in New Orleans, Lousianna.

This material is the work product of United States government employees engaged in their official duties. As such, it is in the public domain and exempt from copyright restrictions.