The Importance of Air-Drying Sorbent in Preparation for GC Analyzed Extracts
January 13, 2022 at 9:00 AM / by Deanna Bissonnette posted in SPE solid phase extraction, Sorbent, tech tips, Drying, gas chromatography
Why Concentrate Down to 1 mL End Point? Can you go down to 0.5 mL?
April 29, 2021 at 3:00 PM / by Michael Ebitson posted in SPE solid phase extraction, Sample preparation, tech tips, EPA Method, Drying, application, evaporation systems, lower volume samples
When working with regulated environmental methods have you ever asked yourself why are all these extracts concentrated down to one milliliter (mL) final volume? This is true for most soil and aqueous methods. Of course, a few methods will require a more diluted final volume but not many.
4 Tips to Keep Your Solvent Evaporator in TipTop Shape
February 25, 2021 at 2:00 AM / by Deanna Bissonnette posted in tech tips, solvent evaporation, evaporation systems, solvent drying, preventative maintenance
“I love doing maintenance. It’s the best part of my week” – said nobody ever. Let’s be honest. We all dread performing maintenance. Why? It’s boring. I’m a chemist and I’d rather spend my time using my instrument than maintaining it. It seems unnecessary. I’m a fan of what I call “sensory maintenance” – that water looks pretty clean, that pump sounds pretty good.
Are You Contaminating Your Samples During Evaporation?
December 14, 2020 at 3:09 PM / by Deanna Bissonnette posted in tech tips, solvent evaporation
“Water in my extracts again?!?!” How many of you have been in that position? You’ve worked hard to extract your samples, you’ve dried your extracts to remove the last droplets of water from your organic solvent – only to add that water back in during your evaporation step! There are fewer frustrating situations than losing a set of extracts in this manner.
Are Your Proficiency Testing Results Failing for Method 1664?
December 14, 2020 at 3:01 PM / by Michael Ebitson posted in SPE solid phase extraction, LLE liquid-liquid extraction, tech tips, oil and grease, epa method 1664b, proficiency testing
It is that time of year again when laboratories are fulfilling accreditation requirements for the methods that they offer. One of the requirements that must be met for each method is called proficiency testing (PT).
The Secret to Tackling Dirty Samples
December 3, 2020 at 2:37 PM / by Maura Rury posted in Solid-phase extraction, tech tips, spe disk, oil and grease, wastewater, prefilters
Solid phase extraction is a powerful technique – it can be used to clean up the most challenging samples, and extract and preconcentrate hundreds of semivolatile organic compounds.
Why is it so important to air dry your SPE sorbent?
November 30, 2020 at 3:21 PM / by Deanna Bissonnette posted in tech tips, spe disk, epa method 525.2, C18 disk