PID Analyzers' Technical Program SUNDAY at Pittcon 2020

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT PITTCON 2020:
  

  Analysis of Medical Cannabis Terpenes by GC-PID   

  • Room: Room W176A
  • Session Number: 5-3-3
  Sunday, March 01, 2020: 2:10 PM - 2:30 PM
  Authors: Driscoll, Maclachlan (presenting)
  

  Description

  With recent changes and liberalization in the law, cannabis is now a rapidly growing industry and lab testing is required for medicinal and recreational cannabis as well as residual cannabis solvents. There are a few gas chromatography (GC) detectors presently used for this analysis but each has its challenges. The Flame ionization detector (FID) requires hydrogen support gas and can have problems with flameout during injections. The GC Mass Spectrometer (GCMS) detector is not very useful for analysis of residual solvents or terpenes since more than a dozen of the important terpenes have an m/e of 136 with different secondary ions. Alpha and beta-pinene have similar parent ions but slightly different secondary ions. The Photoionization Detector (PID) does not require any support gases like hydrogen, has a strong response for terpenes, has a long lifetime lamp, is non-destructive and can be easily added to any GC. It has both analog and digital signal outputs and will accept a digital signal from the GC to autozero the amplifier at the start of the run. One interesting detector combination is using a PID (non-destructive) coupled with an FID in-series for structural identification of peaks (1). We used a new to the market GC model 323 with a PID and have developed a method for profiling of medical cannabis terpenes (22 components). We use a low mass capillary (624) column and a PID for the analysis. We can cool the low mass oven from 290 degrees C to 60 degrees C in less than 2 minutes thereby reducing the overall analysis time. This system can also be used for residual solvent analysis that involves the extraction of active ingredients from cannabis using solvents such as ethanol, carbon dioxide, butane, and water. 1. Driscoll, et al., "Gas Chromatographic Detection and Identification of Aromatic and Aliphatic Hydrocarbons in Complex Mixtures by Coupling Photoionization and Flame Ionization Detectors," J. Chrom., 158, 171 (1978)
  
  
  ACS SUNDAY EVENING POSTERS:
  
  Rapid Analysis of Volatile and Semivolatile Organic Compounds with a Field Portable GC-PID
  Authors: Driscoll, Maclachlan (presenting)
  
  Room: Skyline Ballroom

• Session Number: 6-2-11P

Sunday, March 01, 2020: 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Description

We used our line operated Portable Gas Chromatograph (GC-311- 115VAC) with a Photoionization Detector (PID) for many years at hazardous waste sites and for industrial hygiene surveys of volatile hydrocarbons at ppm and ppb levels. In order to bring our Model GC312 directly to the field, we needed a longer battery life. We have developed a low mass capillary column which required significantly less power, improved the insulation, and used a lower power PC and a lower power color monitor. Now we can operate the GC for 4-6 hours at 75 degrees C or for 8-10 hours at 5-10 degrees C above the ambient temperature. This allows us to analyze volatile compounds like vinyl chloride monomer (gas), benzene (BP 78 degrees C) at 30-40 degrees C or non volatile compounds like 1 vinyl 2 pyrrolidone (BP 148 degrees C), ethylbutyric acid (BP 195 degrees C) and, Napthalene (BP 218 degrees C) or other PAH’s at 75 degrees C to detect ppm to ppb levels. We can operate the GC at temperatures up to 150 degrees C but above 75 degrees C, the GC has to be line powered. Benzene at refinery or chemical plant fence lines can be detected at low ppb levels with an analysis time of < 30 seconds. A complete BTEX analysis (benzene through o-xylene) can be accomplished in 3 minutes.

SEE US AT OUR  PITTCON EXPO BOOTH # 3938: HNU PID Analyzers