STUDY OF THE RESPONSES OF A GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY REDUCTION GAS DETECTORSYSTEM TO GASEOUS HYDROCARBONS UNDER DIFFERENT CONDITIONS

The response of a reduction gas detector (RGD) to C-2-C-6, alkenes, C- 2-C-6 alkanes, isoprene and benzene has been investigated using gas ch romatography (GC) with a packed column. The RGD is considerably more s ensitive to alkenes than is the flame ionization detector. The detecti on limit of this present GC/RGD system for alkenes is about 0.01 ng. I t has much greater sensitivity to alkenes than to alkanes. Its sensiti vity increases with increasing HgO bed temperature, but its selectivit y towards alkenes decreases at the same time. The selectivity of the R GD may not be significant for much heavier molecules. The sensitivity of the RGD is inversely proportional to the carrier gas flow rate thro ugh the HgO bed. The baseline of the system increases significantly wi th increasing oven temperature.