Nitrogen as a Carrier Gas for Capillary Gas Chromatography

Nitrogen is not considered as a viable carrier gas for capillary GC, however, many capillary GC methods would work perfectly well with nitrogen. The long run times and loss of sensitivity typically associated with nitrogen carrier can be easily avoided. This educational event will explain how to identify methods which may be compatible with nitrogen carrier, and shows how method translation can be used to establish acceptable chromatographic performance. We will also discuss the use of narrower internal diameter capillary GC columns to give comparable performance to existing methods and for high efficiency when developing new methods with nitrogen carrier.

Topics include:

• Van Deemter equation and efficiency in capillary GC
• Column i.d. and carrier gas type - defining optimum practical carrier linear velocity
• Nitrogen carrier impact on analysis time and sensitivity
• When to use nitrogen as carrier for capillary GC
• Changing temperature programs and gas flows
• Translating existing methods
• Equipment - what do I need to change?
• Examples of capillary GC methods using nitrogen carrier