COMPARISON OF UNIVERSAL CHROMATOGRAPHIC DETECTORS FOR TRACE GAS-ANALYSIS

Various performance parameters of three detector systems used in trace lever gas analysis, helium ionization detection (HID), discharge ionization detection (DID), and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), have been compared. The detectors were compared for sensitivity, sample matrix effects, and stability. While detection limits were roughly comparable for all three detectors, both GC-MS and DID out-performed HID in various matrix effects and stability tests. Furthermore, HID demonstrated non-linear behavior over a relatively small concentration range.