I'm culturing Spirulina in POME. I am able to digest Spirulina cultured in medium without POME using nitric acid at 140 degree. The digested sample was clear. But, when I digest spirulina that cultured in POME, the resultant is cloudy and precipitation occurs. I tried to increase the volume of acid and also the temperature. I also tried with nitric acid:hydrogen peroxide (4:1) and also aqua regia. The result is still the same...
POME is Palm Oil Mill Extract and contains short to medium length alkyl organics.
The spirulina is biomaterial and will dissolve in acidic medium. Preferably use about 20% of only nitric acid for digestion. the reasons are Cl interference in MS and peroxides may cause effervescence. POME is not soluble in acidic medium. When the precipitate forms separate it and dissolve in organic medium such as hexane. Do separate analysis for both the aqeous and organic medium, in case there are occlusion into the precipitate. Hope this helps.
Use microwave assisted digestion system, that is the easy way to avoid this problem
tq, Dr. Bedigama Kankanamge Kolita Kamal Jinadasa. actually, we dont have microwave digestion system. thanx for the suggestion, Dr.
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