EPA Method 8270 with Nitrogen Carrier Gas

New Organic Monitoring Techniques - Session 2
Oral Presentation

Prepared by P. Macek, D. Nuttall
Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, Inc., 4022 Stirrup Creek Drive, Durham, NC, 27703, 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 the past few months some there has been some easing in the supply, but the shortage is real and permanent. While some EPA analyses can easily be transferred 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. In 2019 we explored and presented the results from the use of nitrogen as a carrier for EPA Method 8270 at NEMC 2019. Some sensitivity loss compared to helium carrier was observed, as expected. Also, unforeseen chromatographic behavior was observed within the optimal range of Van Deemter plot. However, the results were still suitable for the analysis of target compounds in solid waste because low-level sensitivity is less important for solid waste than for drinking water or wastewater. In the current presentation, we will discuss the work to solve the chromatographic problems mentioned above, while minimizing the natural sensitivity drop due to the use of nitrogen, with the ultimate goal of proposing a method that is ready for round robin testing.