Question

(¶) Provide a component diagram sketch of a typical gas chromatography instrument setup and discuss the importance of each component.

Answer 1

A Gas chromatography (GC) is the most common types of chromatography which is used in analytical chemistry for the purpose of separating and analyzing compounds that can be vaporized without decomposition. GC is used to prepare pure compounds from a mixture. Gas chromatography is a powerful technique for separating complex mixtures of organic compounds.

The main components of a gas chromatography are:

1. carrier gas supply: A high flow rate reduces retention times.
2. Injector: Sample is injected through injector. Ideally, the peaks in the chromatogram display a symmetric shap. If too much of the sample is injected, the peaks show a significant tailing, which causes a poorer separation.
3. Column:  A longer column generally improves the separation
4. Oven: It vapourizes the components of the mixture.
5. Detector: detects the signals. The detector output is received by an integrator which will integrate the output signal. then, the integrated signal is then recorded from a recorder.