To quantitate each organic acid species, J&L Laboratories utilizes the principle of ion chromatography using the ThermoFisher Dionex Integrion HPIC.  Adequate separation within the analytical column is achievable depending on the packing material utilized.  The packing material detects the organic acid components, which are then separated according to their affinity for the column and weight.  The mobile phase elutes (pushes) the analytes through the column to the detector. 

Customer notes:

Organic acids, if present, are in the form of formic, propionic, and acetic acid – with the primary organic (or carboxylic) acid as acetic acid.  Formic and propionic acid are normalized to a total carboxylic acid number expressed as acetic acid.  Organic acids, considered to be corrosive species, can contribute to * *corrosion, and therefore are required for proper corrosion modelling software as they are considered to be corrosive species.  Results are reported in ppm (mg/L).