ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the running costs of the four atomic spectroscopy (AS) techniques. Most flame atomic absorption (FAA) systems use acetylene as the combustion gas, and air or nitrous oxide as the oxidant. Calculations for power consumption are based on the average cost of electricity, which is currently about $0.10 per kilowatt hour in the United States. The major consumable supplies used in FAA are the hollow cathode lamps. In addition to the plasma torch and sample introduction supplies, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) requires consumables that are situated inside the mass spectrometer. Because of the fundamental differences between the four AS techniques, it is important to understand that there are considerable differences in the cost of consumables. Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and ICP-MS both these techniques can be considered the same with regard to power requirements as the radio-frequency (RF) generators are of very similar design.
