14 Reasons Why You Should be Using SIFT-MS
Recently, Mark wrote a blog post on the Multi-Port Inlet (MPI) for SIFT-MS, referring to process monitoring.
Since we installed it in the lab, I have been (almost) constantly playing with it, and getting really excited about the possibilities it offers.
The inlet offers fourteen ports and can be programmed to monitor the gas flow across any of them. The valve switching time is typically 1-2 seconds, which, given the SIFT-MS’s ability to perform analyses in a couple of seconds, gives unparalleled speed of analysis from many different sources. Essentially, it’s like having 14 instruments in a single box!
As Mark mentioned in his blog post, we have been coupling the MPI up with some novel flexible heated transfer lines, that eliminate cold spots, leading to very efficient sample transmission.
So, on to the playing I have been doing.
I decided that I was going to throw samples at it, and see what happened. So far, these have included natural and synthetic rubbers, several different types of polymers and some food and beverages, looking for a range of compounds, typically those tricky compounds that SIFT-MS has become known for – formaldehyde and other light weight polar species.
I placed the samples into a heated oven, with 25 mL/min of scrubbed air flowing over them and set the SIFT up to monitor them. Here are some of the results:
This one is a piece of Nylon 66, placed in the oven at 120C, with the SIFT monitoring the species given off over an hour.
For this trace, three different polymer samples were placed into three different ovens, each connected to the MPI via a separate transfer line. The SIFT was then programmed to monitor each sample for a period of time.
This definitely demonstrates the power of the Multi-Port inlet to generate very fast measurements with almost zero carryover.
If you would like to learn more about anything SIFT-MS related, we are going to be at the NEPIC conference next week (19/6/2019) at stand 82. We will have an instrument (and chocolate) with us, so come over and see how this incredibly fast technique can help you. Alternatively, we are hosting a SIFT-MS Interest Group Meeting in Cambridge on 9-10 July, in which the full suite of possibilities for SIFT-MS will be showcased, and talks from many industry experts.
For more info either contact your account manager, email us, or call us on +44 (0)1223 279210.