Determination of deuterium by gas chromatography with a microwave-induced plasma emission detector

Abstract

A deuterium-specific atomic emission gas chromatography detection system is described. The system requires two separate measurements to determine the fraction of deuterium as the deuterium and hydrogen emission lines overlap. The fraction of deuterium in a compound eluting from the gas chromatography can be determined with a relative standard deviation of about 2%. The factors that influence selectivity and limit of detection are investigated and optimised by a sequential simplex method. The results indicate that the limit of detection is limited by the presence of trace amounts of water that produce a background emission that overlaps the deuterium signal. The selectivity is limited by these same impurities and also by differences that arise because the hydrogen and deuterium measurements are not performed simultaneously on the single-channel instrument used.