Tekmar Talk Blog

One year after the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment

Posted by Amy Nutter on Mon, Mar 11, 2024 @ 02:57 PM

It has been about one year since the Feb. 3, 2024, toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, where 20 cars carrying hazardous substances, including vinyl chloride, spilled onto the surrounding area. Vinyl chloride is a toxic material used in plastics production. Since then, a complete remediation of the

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Tags: VOC, vinyl chloride, P&T, Purge and Trap

US EPA prioritizing two VOCs used in Purge and Trap analysis for risk evaluation

Posted by Amy Nutter on Mon, Feb 05, 2024 @ 08:57 AM

Late last year, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will be prioritizing five toxic chemicals for risk evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act. During this process, if the EPA designates these chemicals as High Priority Substances, they will undergo an extensive comprehensive study. These studies will be crucial to helping protect people from toxic exposure.

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Tags: VOC, Volatile Organic Compounds, P&T, Purge and Trap

Helium Conservation in Purge and Trap Analysis

Posted by Amy Nutter on Thu, Nov 02, 2023 @ 03:42 PM

Has your laboratory been having issues obtaining helium for your environmental analysis? As helium supplies become scarcer and more expensive, you may have been seeking alternative carrier gases or ways to conserve helium without sacrificing system performance. This blog will explore ways to conserve helium during your purge and trap (P&T) analysis.

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Tags: helium, VOC, Teledyne Tekmar, P&T, Purge and Trap

Troubleshooting Part 6: Benchmark Troubleshooting Tool

Posted by Amy Nutter on Fri, Oct 20, 2023 @ 01:18 PM

In this last installment of our volatile organic compound (VOC) analysis troubleshooting series, the benchmark test will be covered. This benchmark test is available in the Teledyne Tekmar TekLink software tools menu. The tool allows for full electromechanical testing, including valving, heaters, vial handling systems, liquid delivery system, inputs and outputs.

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Tags: VOC, Teledyne Tekmar, Volatile Organic Compounds, Purge and Trap

Troubleshooting Part 5: Six warning signs of a leak in your Purge & Trap and ways to detect the source

Posted by Amy Nutter on Wed, Sep 06, 2023 @ 04:07 PM

Throughout this troubleshooting series, in nearly every topic discussed, the answer led to performing a leak check on the Purge and Trap (P&T). This part of the series will go over the preventative maintenance program and understanding the leak check troubleshooting tool in Teklink, the Teledyne Tekmar P&T software.

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Tags: VOC, P&T, Purge and Trap, Atomx XYZ

Troubleshooting Part 4: Linearity and reproducibility issues

Posted by Amy Nutter on Fri, Aug 11, 2023 @ 11:12 AM

This is the forth in our Troubleshooting series for VOC Analysis. 

Troubleshooting linearity and reproducibility issues in your systems can be difficult. Problems with linearity and reproducibility can make calibrating your systems frustrating, and if internal standards are varying, it can cause all other target compound to look unstable.

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Tags: VOC, P&T, Purge and Trap

Troubleshooting Part 3: Elution issues and moisture control

Posted by Amy Nutter on Fri, Jul 28, 2023 @ 01:33 PM

This is the third in our Troubleshooting series for VOC Analysis. 

Part three will discuss elusion issues and moisture control for VOC analysis.

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Tags: VOC, Teledyne Tekmar, Volatile Organic Compounds, P&T, Purge and Trap, Moisture Control

Troubleshooting Part 2: No or low analyte response and carryover

Posted by Amy Nutter on Fri, Jun 09, 2023 @ 03:34 PM

This is the second in our Troubleshooting series for VOC Analysis. 

Part one is linked here, VOC Analysis Troubleshooting Part 1: How to Begin Troubleshooting

Part 2 will discuss No, or Low, Analyte Response and Carryover.

Troubleshooting your instruments can be a frustrating process, but I hope this series eases some of that pain and helps you through it. If you’re dealing with no or low response from your analytes, you first need to know if the analytes are even getting to the Gas Chromatograph and Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS). Following the advice in part one of this series, start with a direct injection into the GC of the same standards you use on your Purge and Trap (P&T), to confirm normal operation of the GC-MS. If you see poor chromatography and resolution or reduced response, you should change your inlet liner and clip the column.

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Tags: VOC, Purge and Trap

Moisture Control Blog Series Part 4: Ways to optimize moisture control in the GC-MS

Posted by Amy Nutter on Mon, Apr 10, 2023 @ 02:38 PM

Water vapor entering the gas chromatograph (GC) inlet, column, and, ultimately, the mass spectrometer (MS) can minimize the sensitivity of our early eluting compounds, including our gases. It can also cause poor peak shape, compounds to co-elude, and shift in retention time, even in compounds outside of the water peak. So, once the water is introduced into our system, it starts to wreak havoc on all our compounds. Some say water doesn’t affect column phase or lifespan, but some have seen an effect, especially if you’re running a lot of samples; water can shorten the column life of your GC column and can cause vacuum issues if you’re using a MS system, which could lead to shorter filament lifetime and having to clean the source more often.

Throughout this blog series, we’ve discussed ways to minimize the amount of water vapor introduced to the GC-MS, using Teledyne Tekmar’s moisture control fitting and application control. We can continue to control moisture not only through this hardware designed for the Purge and Trap, but also through method parameters we can adjust and using smart method parameters on the GC.

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Tags: VOC, Purge and Trap, Moisture Control

Moisture Control Blog Series Part 3: Ways to optimize moisture control in the Purge and Trap – desorb and bake settings

Posted by Amy Nutter on Mon, Apr 03, 2023 @ 12:35 PM

The last two Purge and Trap (P&T) settings we will discuss in this blog series might be the most important for moisture control in this volatile organic compound (VOC) analysis: desorb and bake settings.

We can adjust our desorb time to help reduce the amount of moisture we put onto the gas chromatograph (GC) and mass spectrometer (MS). A longer desorb time will remove more of compounds from the analytical trap and send them to the GC, but this includes water, leading to a longer water peak in the total ion chromatogram. If the desorb time is shortened, less of that analyte material is transferred to the GC, but we will have a much shorter water peak, giving the compound peaks better shape and resolution. This gives us an opportunity for method optimization with the desorb settings both in time and temperature.

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Tags: VOC, Purge and Trap

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