Varian has announced three advances to its Gas Clean filter system.
This system delivers clean gases for GC (gas chromatography) and GC/MS (gas chromatography/mass spectrometry), LC/MS (liquid chromatography/mass spectroscopy) and ICP (inductively coupled plasma) operations.
The first update to the Gas Clean family is a carbon dioxide filter that improves the sensitivity of flame photometric detectors in GC and the CO2 detector in total organic carbon analysers.
Next comes the universal high-flow base plate, which handles flow rates up to 20 litres/min and is compatible with all Varian filters.
The range of applications is expanded, and includes the use of collision gas to prevent mass interferences in LC/MS, and for argon supply filtering in ICP-OES and ICP-MS.
Improvements to the absorbent materials in the GC/MS and moisture filters allow them to stabilise more quickly to reduce downtime and improve productivity.
In gas chromatography, the filters are positioned in the gas line between the compressed gas cylinders and the instrument.
Reducing contamination in the gas reduces the risk of column damage.
With the filters in place, chemists can save money by using less expensive, lower-grade gases and still get the results they require.
The filters provide immediate savings of up to 50 per cent on helium, with no loss in analytical quality.
Using Gas Clean filters with Varian's Factorfour ultra-low-bleed columns and GC instruments gives optimum GC and GC/MS performance.
