How to aging the chromatographic column used in gas chromato

Aging chromatographic column is a common work in the application of gas chromatograph. Generally, proper aging is required for the first time of new column, reuse of chromatographic column after a period of storage, or after the column is polluted or damaged. Aging can remove the residual solvents and volatile impurities in the column, promote the stationary liquid evenly and firmly distributed on the carrier surface, and promote its performance more stable. Why to aging the chromatographic column used in gas chromatograph? How to set the aging temperature and time?
A) Aging objective the purpose of aging the chromatographic column used in the gas chromatograph is to remove the unstable stationary phase loss debris or pollutants on the stationary phase surface, so as to prepare the chromatographic column for the analysis to be carried out. High temperature baking is used to remove the pollutants (pollutants entering and condensing with the sample or carrier gas, and degraded stationary phase fragments) on the surface of gas chromatography column to obtain a clean and stable baseline.
B) Aging steps: connect the gas chromatographic column before aging, connect the carrier gas and ensure that there is no air leakage in the system. Generally speaking, it is safe to connect the chromatographic column to the detector for aging, and it will not pollute the detector. Only for the high sensitivity detector, the chromatographic column is not connected to the detector for aging. During aging, the furnace temperature is gradually raised to the aging temperature (there is no specific limit on the heating rate. It can refer to the analysis conditions to be carried out, and it is recommended to use a faster heating rate than the specific experimental conditions) and then continue to aging at the aging temperature.
C) Aging temperature: you can refer to the analysis conditions to be carried out. You can add 20 ℃ to the upper limit of the method (but it should not exceed the upper limit of the constant temperature of the chromatographic column) for aging. If there is no analysis method, the aging can be carried out by reducing 20 ℃ at the upper limit of the constant temperature of the chromatographic column.
D) Aging time: the aging time mainly depends on the sensitivity requirements of the application analysis and the loss degree acceptable to the operator. For wcot columns, the recommended aging time is 2-3 hours. When the method requires high sensitivity, strong polarity of stationary phase or thick film thickness, the aging time needs to be appropriately extended.
E) How to judge whether the chromatographic column has been fully aged: after the chromatographic column is aged, the loss curve can be used to check whether the chromatographic column is fully aged. The run-up profile is obtained without temperature rise. The normal loss curve increased smoothly with the increase of temperature, and there was no obvious impurity peak.
For more related technologies, please consult MS technologies technicians