EPA Method 8270 with Nitrogen Carrier

New Environmental Monitoring Techniques for Organics
Oral Presentation

Prepared by P. Macek1, N. Lock2, R. Marfil-Vega3, D. Nuttall1
1 - Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, Inc., 4022 Stirrup Creek Drive, Suite 312, Durham, NC, 27703, United States
2 - Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, Inc., 7102 Riverwood Dr, Columbia, MD, 21046, United States
3 - Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, Inc., 7102 Riverwood Dr., Columbia, MD, 21046, United States


Contact Information: pvmacek@shimadzu.com; 804-432-8912


ABSTRACT

The helium shortage has arrived and is beginning to show itself in the form of significant price increases and in quantity limits for large quantity users. In at least one case, the price has increased to $1000 per bottle. While some EPA analyses can easily be moved to hydrogen carrier, multi-platform experience has shown that EPA Method 8270 cannot be migrated to hydrogen carrier without significant loss of sensitivity for some compounds and without in-source reactions for some others. Some recently developed mass spectrometers have the capacity to pump nitrogen and obtain sufficient vacuum to perform common GC/MS analyses with nitrogen carrier. Modeling has shown that nitrogen can be used as carrier for most compounds using conventional detectors without significantly increasing run time. We are setting up EPA Method 8270 on a modern EI GC/MS with nitrogen carrier and will determine the viability of performing Method 8270 on a GC/MS with nitrogen carrier. We will compare different column lengths, inner diameters and film thicknesses to determine the optimum column configuration for the analysis.