Particulate Gravimetry: Evaluating Particulate Gravimetry

Evaluating Particulate Gravimetry

The scale of operation and detection limit for particulate gravimetry can be ex- tended beyond that of other gravimetric methods by increasing the size of the sample taken for analysis. This is usually impossible for other gravimetric meth- ods because of the difficulty of manipulating a larger sample through the indi- vidual steps of the analysis. With particulate gravimetry, however, the part of the sample that is not analyte is removed when filtering or extracting. Conse- quently, particulate gravimetry is easily extended to the analysis of trace-level analytes.

Except for methods relying on a quartz crystal microbalance, particulate gravimetry uses the same balances as other gravimetric methods and is capable of achieving similar levels of accuracy and precision. Since particulate gravime- try is defined in terms of the mass of the particle itself, the sensitivity of the analysis is given by the balance’s sensitivity. Selectivity, on the other hand, is de- termined by either the filter’s pore size or the properties of the extracting phase. Particulate gravimetric methods based on filtration are generally less time-, labor-, and capital-intensive than other gravimetric methods since they require only a filtration step.