Continuous Measurement of Multiple Gases Using Ball Surface Acoustic Wave Gas Chromatograph

Although portable gas chromatographs (GCs) have been developed for the monitoring of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in working environments, they still need high power consumption for the heating column. Thus, we previously developed a portable surface acoustic wave (SAW) GC equipped with a ball SAW sensor and a micro-electromechanical-system column (ball SAW GC) and proved the usefulness of the forward flush (FF) method for realizing the fast analysis of multiple gases without a heater. However, its ability to measure ten kinds of VOCs at ppm order and automatic continuous measurement were not demonstrated. In this study, a ball SAW GC employing the FF method and equipped with a gas sampler for continuous injection was developed. Then, the performance of monitoring multiple gases in working environments was verified by measuring ten kinds of VOCs with maximum acceptable concentrations. Moreover, real-time monitoring of seven kinds of VOCs with a linear change in the response value to concentration changes was demonstrated. (C) 2012 The Japan Society of Applied Physics