Experiments with a cyclic closed-loop gas chromatograph
A cyclic closed-loop gas chromatrograph, comprising a column, a thermal conductivity detector, and a peristaltic circulating pump, together with valves for sample pick-up and carrier gas admission, is described. Injected samples could be recycled many times, providing very long effective column lengths, and separations were markedly better than on a single-pass column of equivalent length. Separation of two components, and peak broadening with single components, were measured over many successive cycles for a variety of samples, carrier gases, and conditions. The use of the cyclic chromatograph for testing columns and for studying basic processes in gas chromatography is demonstrated and discussed.