Innovations in GC Inlet Liner Technology: Matrix Trapping Without Formation of New Active Sites

New Environmental Monitoring Techniques for Organics
Oral Presentation

Prepared by A. Smith Henry1, V. Abercrombie2, A. Kaspick1, W. Song1
1 - Agilent Technologies, 2850 Centerville Road, Wilmington, DE, 198081, United States
2 - Agilent Technologies, 91 Blue Ravine Road, Folsom, CA, 95630, United States


Contact Information: [email protected]; 302-636-8252


ABSTRACT

Maintaining a clean and inert GC/MS system starts at the inlet, specifically with the inlet liner. Utilizing deactivated liners provides a good start for preventing peak degradation in the inlet, but glass wool in liners can re-introduce active sites over the lifetime of the liner that can manifest as decrease in peak responses for some applications. However, glass wool liners offer protection for the system from complex matrices, that may contain particulates and non-volatile material, as in food and soil. A glass wool alternative liner offers the same protection from complex nonvolatile matrices, as the glass wool liners, but additionally does not suffer from possible loss of peak response due to wool breakage. The glass wool alternative liners offer excellent compound response repeatability and reproducibility, along with trapping complex nonvolatile matrices for analysis of semivolatiles (EPA 8270) in soil samples.