Optimizing electron-capture detector performance for gas chromatographic analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls

Summary A modified simplex technique has been applied to optimize the performance of an electron-capture detector under constant-current and constant-frequency pulse modes for the gas chromatographic analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls. Optimal performance was obtained by adjusting the four experimental parameters of pulse voltage, detector temperature, make-up gas flow rate, and reference current (or pulse frequency) using the signal-to-noise ratio of the eluting peak as the criterion. The results show that constant-current pulse mode has better sensitivity and dynamic range whereas the constant-frequency pulse mode has the lower detection limit. Subsequent principal component factor analysis indicated that similar performance is achievable using only three parameters.