PALLADIUM TRANSMODULATOR - A NEW COMPONENT FOR GAS CHROMATOGRAPH

This paper introduces a new component for the gas chromatograph, the “gas transmodulator”; this component functions by transferring the separated components from the column carrier gas to a second carrier gas which is chosen to provide optimum performance from the detector. The construction and use of a practical gas transmodulator is described. It consists of a palladium silver alloy tube, and with it a gain in sensitivity of at least 40-fold is demonstrated in analyses using thermal conductivity and ionization cross section detectors. In addition, the device enables these detectors to be used under conditions where the column carrier gas flow is changing-such as in analysis with flow programming-which are otherwise difficult to conduct without loss of accuracy or performance. © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.