Thermal desorption is a technique that encompasses two functions, sample collection / concentration and transfer to a detector. Using adsorbents and large sample volumes to collect vapor phase compounds, such as pollutants in air or residual components from solids, facilitates the analysis of very low levels of analytes of interest.

Enhance sensitivity

Organics are concentrated on sorbent media while the sample matrix, air or water, is discarded. In much the same way as a vacuum cleaner filters dust from the air as it sweeps over a surface, Dynatherm instruments capture compounds of interest on adsorbent material packed in glass cartridges, and then introduce the collected chemicals into another analytical instrument, typically a gas chromatograph, where the various chemicals are separated, measured and identified. The technology provides customers with solutions to problems encountered when sampling low-level organics, typically 1 part analyte per billion or trillion parts of total collected sample.

Simplify Sample Preparation

Facilitate Remote Sampling

An investigator with a battery powered sampler can quickly collect liters of air on a sorbent tube and bring it to the lab for analysis, or mobilize the thermal desorber/GC instruments for direct source sampling in the field.

Remove Water

When samples are collected in areas of high humidity, two stage sorbent trapping and thermal desorption effectively eliminate water interferences and enhance analysis of polar compounds in the sample stream. Other collection techniques, such as canister sampling, must limit sampling volumes to control the amount of water transferred to the GC, which tends to lower sensitivity as well as restrict recovery of polar compounds.