Modern automatic CHNS/O/X organic compound analyzers

Abstract

A review of the modern market for the automatic element analyzers widely used to control carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, oxygen and halogens, all of which are the main elements making up the organic compounds content and determining their properties, is presented. The operation principles and device variants of the main blocks of CHNS/O/X analyzers are considered including the sample introduction unit, the reactor unit, the combustion products separation unit and the detection unit. The latest developments of element analyzer manufacturers directed to optimize the individual stages of elemental analysis namely the application of double furnace technology, the incineration in tubes with a high temperature resistant ceramic coating, the application of a flame sensor for monitoring the combustion process, the injection of oxygen under pressure to ensure the efficient combustion of the most complex matrices, the use of separation systems such as already-established classical version of the gas chromatography or the temperature-programming desorption methods as well as the other detection systems are reviewed. The data on the most important technical and analytical characteristics of the analyzers such as Analytik Jena (Germany), Elementar Analysensysteme GmbH (Germany), Thermo Fisher Scientific (USA), PerkinElmer (USA), LECO (USA), EuroVector (Italy), CE Instruments (Italy ), Exeter Analytical (UK) are presented along with the data on the number of injected samples, the number and the design of the reactors, the carrier gases used, the methods of the separation and detection of combustion products, the types and the masses of the samples, the elements and ranges of the determined concentrations, and the duration of the analyses. Keywords: elemental analysis, analyzer, encapsulation, combustion, reactor, detector, calibration (Russian) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15826/analitika.2018.22.1.001 E.A. Zauer Volgograd State Technical University, Lenin Avenue, 28, Volgograd, 400005, Russian Federation