Gas Bench II

The SPA Lab is able to expand the applications of the mass spectrometer with the Thermo Scientific GasBench II universal on-line gas preparation system. The GasBench II system provides high-precision on-line isotope and molecular ratio determination of headspace gas, including water equilibration, carbonates, and atmospheric gases (e.g. CO₂, O2/N2).  A series of nafion traps remove water and a GC column separates gases in time for analysis of isotopic composition largely free of interference.  With the use of shorter vials and a reference gas injection system, we (and other labs using this technique by Breitenbach and Bernasconi [2011]) have been able to attain nearly the precision and accuracy of a dual inlet system on a continuous-flow IRMS system.