Application of electron probe micro-analysis to the estimation of chlorine in alumina-based heterogeneous catalysts

Chlorine in alumina-based catalysts has been determined with a scanning electron microscope attached to an energy dispersive x-ray analyser (SEM-EDX). The method is less time consuming compared to conventional methods involving sample dissolution followed by titrimetry, absorption spectrophotometry or ion chromatography. The spectrometer is calibrated with laboratory prepared standards. This technique is found suitable for the estimation of chlorine in the range 0.1-1.0% (w/w) with a relative standard deviation < 10% for chlorine levels above 0.2%