Using a Method Translator Program for GC-MS Analysis with a Hydrogen Carrier Gas

Conventionally, helium gas has been used as the carrier gas in GC-MS analysis. However, due to the rapid rise in helium prices and delivery delays in recent years, hydrogen and nitrogen have been increasingly used as an alternative to helium. Due to characteristics that differ from helium, these gases cannot be used with existing analytical methods unless the methods are modified, which requires reevaluating method parameter settings specifically for these gases. In addition, in order to minimize a rise in background noise if hydrogen or nitrogen is used, a column with a narrower internal diameter is recommended. This results in significantly different elution times (retention times) for compounds and longer identification times compared to analyses when using helium. This Application Data Sheet describes using the EZGC^TM Method Translator program, supplied by RESTEK^?, to translate a method that uses helium as the carrier gas into a method that uses hydrogen. It also compares the resulting chromatograms.