Chromatography Forum

Hi Everyone,

I am a fresh engineering graduate with limited GC-MS experience and was instantly put into a position to decide what kind of analytical instrument our company needs, which I think a GC-MS will be most beneficial.

But I want to get the advice and opinions from the veteran experts here.

Objective: Test for the purity of liquid Halon 1301 to the accuracy of 0.01 mole %.

Analysis Time:

• Ideally under 30 minutes.

Possible compounds in our samples:

• R-12
• R-12B1
• R-13
• R-22
• R-125
• R-143a
• R-227ea
• Carbon Dioxide
• Methanol
• Nitrogen

Measured compounds:

• Halon 1301 (0.00 - 100.00%)
• Methanol (0.00 - 100.00%)
• Our main concern is the Halon 1301.

My current research:

1. Agilent 7890B
2. Shimadzu QP 2010SE
3. Thermo Fisher ISQ QD Single Quadrupole MS

• Each would be equipped with automatic liquid sampling and the specific columns I need.

Based off my own research, the instruments all seem to do the same job. I feel like this is just a matter of which company can give me the lowest quote for the setup I'll need.

But maybe I'm missing something? Maybe some brands are more reliable than others? This is where I'm looking for some opinions and advice on what I'm looking at/for. All help is appreciated, thank you!

Welcome to the forum. This topic comes up very often. I suggest you do some searching for threads that already exist. In fact, there's one on the main page on this subforum entitled "Good GC Machines". GC's are instruments and not machines BUT you'll get a good idea of what people think in that thread.

Good luck.

What's your budget?

Nitrogen and Methanol can be difficult by GC/MS since no matter how well sealed the instrument is there will always be traces of air in the system which will directly interfere with nitrogen and the oxygen will interfere with methanol.

Just something to consider before purchase.

Welcome to the forum. This topic comes up very often. I suggest you do some searching for threads that already exist. In fact, there's one on the main page on this subforum entitled "Good GC Machines". GC's are instruments and not machines BUT you'll get a good idea of what people think in that thread.

Good luck.

Thank you for the suggestion article to start on. It seems like people love/trust their Agilent GC's.

What's your budget?

150K. Anything under that should be approved fairly easily. 150K+ will probably require some eloquent convincing.

You can definitely buy a GC-MS with autosampler/columns and everything with that. Even a GC-MS/MS (triple quad).

I'm not sure however if this instrument is the right choice for your analysis. Have you found any literature or application notes for similar procedures? Personally i don't have experience with this kind of analysis, maybe someone else here has...

If you need more help in deciding which technique/instrument to buy for your company, then simply contact Agilent/Thermo/... with your question. They'll be happy to help. Just don't mention your budget

Little side question: are these kind of halon gases still used nowadays, i thought they were banned?

You can definitely buy a GC-MS with autosampler/columns and everything with that. Even a GC-MS/MS (triple quad).

I'm not sure however if this instrument is the right choice for your analysis. Have you found any literature or application notes for similar procedures? Personally i don't have experience with this kind of analysis, maybe someone else here has...

If you need more help in deciding which technique/instrument to buy for your company, then simply contact Agilent/Thermo/... with your question. They'll be happy to help. Just don't mention your budget

Little side question: are these kind of halon gases still used nowadays, i thought they were banned?

Certification of halon needs to go through GC-MS, so I found the ASTM standards referencing that. I'll make sure to keep my budget hush hush as long as I can haha.

Halon is not manufactured anymore, at least not in the US. But it is still recycled and highly used in the aerospace industry. I appreciate your input, thank you!