PNNL

Abstract

A vapor preconcentrator has been designed with the porous polymer (Tenax) packed into a highly porous metal foam to facilitate thermal conductivity and temperature uniformity throughout the bed of the preconcentrator during heating. Vapors were desorbed using linear temperature programming from room temperature to a maximum temperature of 170ºC or 200ºC; the programmed duration of the thermal ramp was varied from 10 to 180 seconds. The thermal desorption of vapor mixtures captured on the preconcentrator has been examined in detail, using methyl ethyl ketone, toluene, and dimethyl methylphosphonate as a test mixture. Vapors desorbed as a sequence of partially separated overlapping peaks as observed with a polymer-coated flexural plate wave sensor. It was shown that vapor mixture resolution improved as the total time of the thermal ramp was extended from 30 seconds to 120 seconds. In this way the preconcentrator serves to act as a preseparator in addition to its usual functions for sampling, signal modulation, and improving sensitivity. Overlapping peaks were modeled and peak areas were extracted using an exponentially modified Gaussian model. Peak areas were independent of the thermal ramp rate. Uses of such preconcentrators with multivariate detectors such as sensor arrays are discussed.