Portable analytical system for detecting organic chemicals in water
AssigneeParker-Hannifin Corporation
InventorsKazi Zulfiqur Ali Hassan, William M. Cost, Curtis D. Mowry, Michael P. Siegal, Alex Robinson, Joshua J. Whiting, Stephen W. Howell
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Abstract
A portable analytical system for detecting organic chemicals in water comprising a miniature preconcentrator and a SAW detector, the latter being characterized by a nanoporous carbon coating that provides improved response compared to prior art polymer coatings, particularly when detecting low concentrations of trihalomethane chemicals, such as chloroform and bromoform.
Claims18
A system for detecting organic compounds in water comprising:
- a preconcentrator for collecting the compounds;
- a gas chromatograph column for separating the compounds as desorbed from the preconcentrator;
- and
- a surface acoustic wave detector for determining the mass of the compounds separated by the gas chromatograph.
A portable field instrument for detecting purgeable trihalomethane compounds in water, comprising
- a sample vessel wherein chemicals are purged and entrained in a carrier gas;
- a preconcentrator connected to the sample purger for adsorbing the chemicals from the carrier gas;
- a heater for heating the preconcentrator for desorbing the trihalomethane compounds;
- a gas chromatograph column to which the desorbed compounds are passed from the preconcentrator;
- a heater for heating the gas chromatograph column for causing the compounds to desorb after different retention times in the gas chromatograph column;
- and
- a surface acoustic wave detector to which the compounds are sequentially passed from the gas chromatograph column, the frequency of the surface acoustic wave detector changing as a function of the mass of compound adsorbed and desorbed from a sensing surface of the surface acoustic wave detector, whereby the mass quantity of the compounds is measured by the change of frequency of the surface acoustic wave device.
A method for detecting organic compounds in water comprising:
- using a preconcentrator to collect the compounds;
- using a gas chromatograph column to separate the compounds as desorbed from the preconcentrator;
- and
- using a surface acoustic wave detector to determine the mass of the compounds separated by the gas chromatograph.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.