Release Date: July 27, 2006
Industry: Environmental
Instrument: AUTOCan 12 (VOC)
Evaluation of EPA Method TO-15 with AUTOCan-12 Cryogen-Free Internal Trap Whole Air Autosampler/Concentrator
Method TO-15 is used to analyze whole air samples in specially treated stainless steel canisters known as SUMMA canisters. After the sample is introduced into the canister an aliquot is taken from the canister through the use of a vacuum pump and is concentrated on an absorbent trap. In the past, this trap needed to be cooled with liquid nitrogen in order to ensure the collection of all of the volatile organic compounds of interest. The ingenious design of the AUTOCan 12 has now eliminated the necessity to cool the trap. After the VOC’s are collected on the trap, they are then desorbed to a cryofocusing module located at the inlet of the GC. After desorb, the cyrofocusing module is heated to release the VOCs into the GC/MS.
The Teledyne Tekmar AUTOCan 12 utilizes a 12-inch internal trap which collects the compounds of interest at ambient temperature. The benefits of a 12-inch trap include:
- Significant reduction of liquid nitrogen being used vs a traditional Air Concentrator
- More packing material available for analyte trapping
- Added expansion volume during desorb preheat and desorb steps
- Same trap size as Teledyne Tekmar’s purge and trap instrument, making several different packing mixtures available depending on your specific application
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