Cut Down Your Column Cuts: Matching GC Liner Style to Matrices and Reduce Column Trimming HeadachesOperational Issues Impacting the Environmental Laboratory Industry (Session 2)
Oral Presentation
Prepared by A. Smith Henry, L. Wieder
Agilent Technologies, 2850 Centerville Road, Wilmington, DE, 19808, United States
Contact Information: [email protected]; 13026368252
ABSTRACT
Gas chromatograph (GC) maintenance can be a frustrating set of tasks, as sometimes just a liner change does not fix the issues and you must cool and most likely vent the instrument multiple times to complete maintenance. When running environmental methods with soil samples or other complex matrices, it is common to use a liner with glass wool or a frit to catch the non-volatile matrix. Does it matter if a glass wool or glass frit liner is used? Or do you need that barrier at all? Using a short mix of EPA 8270 compounds, comprising some of the more challenging compounds, like 2,4-dinitrophenol, N-nitrosodimethylamine, benzo(b)fluoranthene, and benzo(k)fluoranthene, a set of experiments were designed to compare column trimming when using different liner styles. Selecting the right liner style, whether an open (no barrier) liner, or liner with glass wool or glass frit can reduce maintenance frequency leading to increased run time and productivity. In our testing with a soil matrix, single taper liners required column trims 3 times more often than glass fritted liners.
