Improve Your Environmental Gas Chromatography Techniques
There are improved strategies for fast method development projects using automated static headspace and large volume injection gas chromatography systems. Two sample introduction techniques for gas chromatography (GC) are automated static headspace and large volume injections. Both can offer unique benefits to users.
These techniques can improve laboratory productivity, enhance detection limits, and minimize the use of organic solvents, all while facilitating the analysis of a complete range of volatile and semi-volatile compounds at trace concentrations in a variety of environmental, biological, petroleum, and other challenging sample matrices.
Scientists from ExxonMobil Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Laboratory have demonstrated the advantages of these techniques for the analysis of environmental matrices in the industrial landscape.
The main benefits of headspace and large-volume injection GC as front-end sampling techniques are:
- They can be flexibly interfaced with GC/MS (mass spectrometry) or GC-FID (flame ionization detection) or whatever particular GC configuration is used.
- Between the two techniques, they cover a broad range of volatile and semi volatile compounds.
- They lessen the need for sample preparation and can significantly reduce solvent use.
- They enable the analyst to increase analytical sensitivity and sample throughput, thereby improving lab productivity.
- Both techniques are robust, repeatable, and quantitative.
Specific static headspace analysis benefits include:
- Virtually no carryover and no sample foaming as may occur in the purge and trap vessel.
- Associated analytes are captured in the vapor phase portions, so GC inlet and detector maintenance are significantly reduced because the non-volatile components do not make it to the GC inlet.
- Improved sample throughput and lab productivity due to reduced maintenance.
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