Detection of lactate, acetate

[gadhamvr]

Hello,
I am working on microbial fuel cell reactor and am trying to measure lactate & acetate concentrations. I am on Agilent 5973 network with mass selective detector. Liquid sample can be composition of lactate, acetate, and biomass.

Please suggest a column; Also share me your experience on this subject.

Regards,
Ramana

[Peter Apps]

I suggest an LC column - to do lactate by GC you will have to derivatize it.

Peter

[AICMM]

gadhamvr,

Have to agree with Peter. Thought about IC?

Best regards.

[Consumer Products Guy]

For lactic acid, for GC after derivatization see "Simultaneous Determination of Alpha and Beta Hydroxy Acids in
Personal Care Products by Capillary GC", April 2002, Journal of Cosmetic Science. I've used this, but think acetic acid may be too small to be resolved from the reagents.

For HPLC, for lactic acid I've used Prevail organic acid column (Alltech, or whatever their name is this week) with acidic mobile phase and conductivity detector. I haven't tried that set-up for acetic acid.