An open-source, automated, gas sampling peripheral for laboratory incubation experiments using cavity ring-down spectroscopy

Abstract

Spectroscopic instruments are becoming increasingly popular for measuring the isotopic composition and fluxes of a wide variety of gases in both field and laboratory experiments. The popularity of these instruments has created a need for automated multiplexers compatible with the equipment. While there are several such peripherals commercially available, they are currently limited to only a small number of samples (≤16), which is insufficient for some studies. To support researchers in constructing custom, larger-scale systems, we present our design for a scalable gas sampling peripheral that can be programmed to autonomously sample up to 56 vessels – the “multiplexer”. While originally designed to be used with a Picarro cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) system, the multiplexer design and data processing approach implemented can be easily adapted to serve as a gas sampling/delivery platform for a wide variety of instruments including other cavity ring-down systems and infra-red gas analyzers. We demonstrate the basic capabilities of the multiplexer by using it to autonomously sample head-space CO2 from 14 laboratory-incubated soils amended with 13C-enriched pyrogenic organic matter for analysis in a Picarro G2201-i cavity ring-down spectroscopy system.