GC Troubleshooting—Broad Peaks
Description
When troubleshooting GC, it is valuable to recognize common problems and some of their most likely causes. In this video, we’ll talk about one of the problems you’ve likely run across already, broad peaks, and give some insight in to what often causes them.
Additional Resources
Restek Recommended Tools & Parts
Connect with Us
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/RestekCorp
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restek-corporation/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestekCorporation
Transcript
Hey, chromatographers. Welcome to another Restek Tip. Our topic today is broad peaks: peaks that are excessively wide. Say we have a broad peak problem with our solvent peak. That is likely telling us that we have some problem with our injection, with our sample transfer. It may be something like our splitless hold time is excessively long, or it could be something along the lines of an incorrect column installation distance. That also can affect how that sample is transferring onto the column and can contribute to an excessively broad solvent peak.
Now, we can have broad peak trouble in other areas, as well. What if we have them throughout our chromatogram, or especially concentrated towards the latter end of our chromatogram? That may be indicating to us that we have an issue with excessive residence time in the chromatographic system -- we've got some band broadening occurring. If we want to clean that up, we want to do something like increase our flow rate, perhaps increase our temperature ramp, or both. That will drive things out quicker, should reduce the band broadening, and tighten up our peaks for us.
So, those are some suggested solutions if you're struggling with broad peaks, and that's our Restek Tip. We'll talk to you again soon.