ULTRA-HIGH-SPEED CHROMATOGRAPHY FOR MONITORING PHOTOCHEMICALDETOXIFICATION OF HAZARDOUS WASTES

A MAJOR PROBLEM ASSOCIATED WITH THE USE OF ULTRA-HIGH-RESOLUTION GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY FOR EFFLUENT MONITORING IS THE RELATIVELY LOW SPEED OF ANALYSIS. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AN ULTRA-HIGH-SPEED CAPILLARY GAS CHROMATOGRAPH WHICH WOULD BE SUITABLE FOR THE ANALYSIS OF EFFLUENT SAMPLES IN JUST A FEW SECONDS. THE HEART OF THE NEW INSTRUMENT WOULD BE A MICROBORE COLUMN WITH AN INTERNAL DIAMETER OF 50 MUM OR LESS. TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE OF THIS COLUMN, A REVOLUTIONARY INLET SYSTEM AND A LOW-DEAD-VOLUME DETECTOR WILL BE DEVELOPED. HIGH-SPEED CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH A CONCENTRATION-DEPENDENT DETECTOR HAS THE ADDED ADVANTAGE OF A GREATLY IMPROVED DETECTION LIMIT, SO TRACE AMOUNTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES CAN BE ANALYZED. A PROTOTYPE INSTRUMENT WILL BE CONSTRUCTEDFOR THE DETERMINATION OF HALOGENATED COMPOUNDS ANTICIPATED IN EFFLUENTS FROM A PHOTOCHEMICAL DETOXIFICATION SYSTEM.