Guard cell clogged, electrochemical detector
Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 12:45 pm
Hi,
The guard cell of my electrochemical detection-HPLC is clogged. Maybe any of the readers know a maintenance protocol to try to clean it?
The guard cell is a ESA Coulochem 5020 guard cell, and consists of a graphite electrode able to support high pressures. You can see here its design:
http://www.spectrotech.com.tw/esa/cell.htm
My mobile phase is an aqueous solution containing 15 % methanol. I have tried 100 % methanol and 100 % acetonitrile to clean it; the backpressure went down a bit but it´s still very high. I'm note sure if it would be a good idea to backflush any of those solvents through the guard cell or to use stronger solvents (methylene chloride, THF)??
M
The guard cell of my electrochemical detection-HPLC is clogged. Maybe any of the readers know a maintenance protocol to try to clean it?
The guard cell is a ESA Coulochem 5020 guard cell, and consists of a graphite electrode able to support high pressures. You can see here its design:
http://www.spectrotech.com.tw/esa/cell.htm
My mobile phase is an aqueous solution containing 15 % methanol. I have tried 100 % methanol and 100 % acetonitrile to clean it; the backpressure went down a bit but it´s still very high. I'm note sure if it would be a good idea to backflush any of those solvents through the guard cell or to use stronger solvents (methylene chloride, THF)??
M