Anions in diesel, especially biodiesel, may cause harmful deposits in the engine. Determination with ion chromatography requires the transfer of the diesel anions into an aqueous solution, injectable to the IC. A typical method to transfer the anions into water is via Inline Extraction with subsequent Inline Dialysis prior to the injection (see AN-C-101 for a respective analysis of cations). In the actual Matrix Elimination method, diesel diluted with isopropanol is injected into an isopropanol stream and passed through a preconcentration column. Isopropanol washes off the diesel, and a subsequent rinsing step with ultrapure water removes excess isopropanol.
