| Abstract: | A state-of-the-art gas chromatographic system for automatic simultaneous detection of halogenated and normal hydrocarbons has been developed, which consists of a standard Hewlett-Packard 5880 with a fused silica capillary column, whose effluent is split between the standard flame ionization detector and a Tracor Hall electroconductivity detector. The system provedes excellent capillary chromatography results and high sensitivity for halogenated compounds (a detection limit of 1 ppm Archlor 1254 in fuel oil). Reliability has been provides in the daily analysis of complex environmental samples. Emergency response cleanup and the containment of hazardous chemical spills and chemical dump sites forces one to deal with samples that are very complex. The contain large numbers of naturally occurring organic compounds and varying types of organic pollutants. Capillary chromatographic techniques of gas chromatographic and gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric analyses are necessary to achieve the resolution required for the analysis of these samples. |
