Conference Review
New Products for Gas Chromatography at Pittcon® 2014
ittcon® is changing rapidly. After decades where separation sci- ence including GC/MS and LC/MS dominated the meeting, a report by Dr. Matt Wilkinson in this issue demonstrates that opti- cal spectroscopy has stolen the limelight. With improved batteries and novel solid-state optical devices, many booths exhibited handheld spectrometers, particularly Raman and laser induced breakdown spec- troscopy (LIBS). Brian Musselman has prepared a similar review of mass spectrometry, also in this issue.
P
Scientists interested in HPLC and related techniques should see the March issue of American Laboratory for a report on HPLC 2013 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. New items at Pittcon will be reviewed in an upcoming issue, along with those revealed at HPLC 2014, scheduled for May 10-15 in New Orleans, LA. Although HPLC is the largest technology segment in the laboratory marketplace, three articles in four months seems excessive.
GC instruments Pittcon is no longer the dominant trade show in separation science.
There are other choices, such as Analytica, BECIA, and HPLC, and for GC, Capillary Chromatography.
No firm chose Pittcon for introduction of a new platform gas chromato- graph. I did not find any new columns either. What caused the drought? Several potential factors come to mind: 1) The GC development cycle is probably about five years from inception to rollout; 2009 was a tough year economically. GC redesign was probably put on hold until the economy improves. 2) There is little market demand for “smaller, faster, better” GCs. Micro GCs exist, but I’ve never heard anyone claim that they have been commercially successful. Plus, benchtop GCs are among the most reliable instruments in the lab space. The oven fan is the only moving mechanical part. However, several firms introduced application-specific analyzers.
Application-specific analyzers
GC with model 5380 pulsed flame photometric detector O.I. Analytical (College Station, TX;
www.oico.com) exhibited a GC equipped with the model 5380 pulsed flame photometric detector opti- mized for assay of low levels of sulfur analytes in spearmint oil. Spearmint oil is an important item of commerce, with 1 million kg/yr produced for flavoring chewing gum and toothpaste. Each 55-gal drum is sufficient for 5,200,000 sticks of gum.
TOGA-005 GC, dual-column system, and FTA-057 Cannabis THC
Potency Analyzer Since Pittcon 2013, GenTech Scientific (Arcade, NY; www.
gentechscientific.com) has introduced three application-specific
to methane, enhancing detection with the FID. A headspace sampler passes the methane to the split/splitless injector. Protocols meet the requirements of ASTM D-3612C.
analytical systems utilizing GC. The TOGA-005 GC is optimized for analysis of transformer oil gas. It is equipped with a thermal conductivity (TC) and flame ionization detector (FID). A catalytic methanizer converts CO and CO2
Blood alcohol by headspace GC is commonly used in forensic labs. GenTech’s dual-column system assays for ethanol on one column and related volatile analytes on the second. Both columns feed separate flame ionization detectors.
The FTA-057 Cannabis THC Potency Analyzer applies GC technology to determination of tetrahydrocannabinol in various sources. THC’s psy- choactive effect requires about 10 μg/kg of body weight. Other related cannabinoids may also be psychoactive. Since the illicit market is known to deliver adulterated products, consumers demand potency information. If you are interested in more, visit
www.gentechscientific.com/news/ make-sure-it-s-the-good-stuff-cannabis-thc-potency-analyzer.
Natural gas, natural gas liquids, crude assay, detailed hydrocarbon,
and refinery gas analyzers The shale gas and oil boom comes from a mixture of deposits, each with a different product profile. The Marcellus Shale in New York and Pennsylvania produces primarily natural gas with lots of water; the Eagle Ford in Texas yields light sweet crude, with almost no water, etc. Alpha Omega Technologies, Inc. (Brielle, NJ;
www.aoti.net) introduced four GC- based analyzers including a natural gas analyzer, natural gas liquids (LGN) analyzer, crude assay analyzer, and detailed hydrocarbon analyzer (DHA). All are designed to comply with the requirements of ASTM and other metrology agencies. Generally the analyzers are built around an Agilent 7890 GC (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA;
www.agilent.com).
Alpha Omega also makes analyzers for petroleum processing. The high- speed RGA (refinery gas analyzer) is optimized to assay C1 through C6 hydrocarbons, H2
, CO, O2 , and N2 in 100 sec. The 7890 is fitted with a split/
splitless inlet. Detection is with an FID and two TC detectors. Stainless steel is passivated with SilcoNert™ 2000 (Silco Tek, Bellefonte, PA; www.
silcotek.com). Since there is more room for maintenance and repair, users often favor the 7890 GC over micro GCs.
Reducing Compound Detector Peak Laboratories (
www.peaklaboratories.com), nestled in Mountain View, CA, in the heart of the Silicon Valley is another firm with a very tight applications focus. Peak’s is on chromatography-based process analyt- ics for the semiconductor industry. This industry segment uses large
AMERICAN LABORATORY • 32 • MAY 2014
by Robert L. Stevenson
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