Process & Mass Spectrometers

A Tuesday session on process and mass spectrometers begins at 9:00 am and takes place in Room 370 D at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.

The first presentation, to be given by Ernie Hillier of Waters Corporation, will look at how modern HPLC with 1/10 the analysis time makes process HPLC realistic. An in depth collaboration between instrument development scientists and process engineers identified specific obstacles to the implementation of liquid chromatography as a process analytical technology tool. 

At 10:00 am, Chuck De Carlo of Extrel CMS will discuss real-time refinery fenceline benzene using a process mass spectrometer. The talk will focus on how real-time monitoring is safer for the community and, combined with wind direction, can rapidly indicate transient benzene from neighboring industrial facilities, highways, rail lines, and other areas.

“Hand Portable GC/MS Technologies for Rapid Response Field Analysis” will be discussed next, starting at 10:30 am. Leeman Bennington of PerkinElmer will talk about product evolution, GC characteristics, MS design and theory, software considerations, quick sampling techniques, and proven applications.

Next, at 11:00 am, Barry J. Prince of Syft Technologies will look at high temporal resolution mud-gas analysis using selected-ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS). SIFT-MS is an analytical technique that detects and quantifies volatile organic compounds directly in air to part-per-trillion concentrations within seconds.

Joshua Whiting of APIX Analytics will follow at 1:00 pm with a presentation on a modular approach for rapid on-line GC analysis in potentially explosive atmospheres (ATEX zone 1 and CEC/NA class 1/Div1). The discussion will focus on a system developed by APIX Analytics that is capable of simultaneously analyzing permanent gases, heavier hydrocarbons, VOCs and sulfur compounds with a single sample collection. 

The final talk will start at 1:30 pm and will be given by Andrew J. Jones of Activated Research Company. Jones will compare the analyses of several mixtures using GC with FID, MS, and Polyarc/FID and show how the universal carbon response and large linear dynamic range of the Polyarc/FID can lead to better data quality, integrity, and reliability in less time.