StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Headspace Analysis Conditions - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The essay "Headspace Analysis Conditions" focuses on the critical, and thorough analysis of the conditions of headspace analysis. Headspace analysis is a technique where the vapours in the gas above, and equilibrium with a solid or liquid are sampled…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER92.5% of users find it useful
Headspace Analysis Conditions
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Headspace Analysis Conditions"

The vial is placed in line with a gas chromatography column, the vial heated and the vaporized sample swept on the column and the components separated. This technique has been used to identify spoiled food, fragrances from botanical material, the determination of plasticizers in plastics and forensic samples involving arson snuff. Its main component, nicotine is habit-forming and other compounds produced by pyrolysis during smoking are carcinogenic and can cause several other health problems. Tobacco is an extremely valuable export in the United States despite the health concern, and its quality is carefully monitored. Tobacco can be flue-cured, air-cured, fire-cured, or sun-cured, but the quality of the product can often be monitored by analyzing the vapours in the headspace above the tobacco. The headspace over tobacco can be sampled and analyzed using a Solid Phase Micro Extraction (SPME) technique.

Diesel is similar in chemical composition to kerosene and heating oil in that it is composed of aliphatic hydrocarbons that are obtained from the fractional distillation of crude oil. Diesel has a higher boiling point fraction and the distillation range is greater than that of kerosene and heating oil being composed of essentially C10 to C25 aliphatic hydrocarbons.

Dynamic headspace sampling with Capillary G.L.C. analysis will successfully analyse fire debris for accelerants and is capable of detecting a microlitre of accelerant.

The use of these extremely sensitive laboratory techniques must be made carefully because of the consequence of obtaining a false positive result. The possibility of the accidental contamination of a sample through poor sampling and laboratory techniques needs to be minimized.

The research has shown the sample containers can be cleaned before use and should be sealed before transport to the fire scene. Samples should then be delivered to the laboratory and analysed promptly. The laboratory equipment should be cleaned before use and blank samples analysed regularly to check for any possible contamination.  The extraction equipment can be cleaned by washing it with acetone and heating the gas transfer lines with a Bunsen burner. The interpretation of the chromatograms must be made carefully using a library of chromatograms composed of common accelerants, industrial solvents, and common household materials.

The analysis of numerous burnt synthetic materials was found to be distinct from the common accelerants. The common accelerants were found to change during evaporation making it sometimes difficult to distinguish between those composed entirely of entirely of an aliphatic hydrocarbon fraction. Ethanol could not be detected in fire debris using charcoal absorption extraction techniques and alternative analytical techniques were needed.

The background level of accelerants in the environment is dependent on the history of the sample material. Traces of petrol and aliphatic hydrocarbons were found in soil from a motor wrecking yard, however, no traces were found in numerous car flooring materials indicating none would be expected from a domestic environment. Gas odourants could also be detected using the same equipment as that used for fire debris analysis which would assist in the investigation of suspected gas explosions.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Headspace Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/science/1511599-headspace-analysis
(Headspace Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words)
https://studentshare.org/science/1511599-headspace-analysis.
“Headspace Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/science/1511599-headspace-analysis.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Headspace Analysis Conditions

Microbial physiology and genetics

Air was introduced into the culture by use of headspace.... The essay analyzes Microbial physiology and genetics.... This experiment gave out data for a process of evolution that can be described by the model of deterministic in populations that are large.... This experiment gives a demonstration of the special case of chemostat evolution....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Abalytical Toxicology

The proposed methods varied in terms of sensitivity, reliability, sample preparation times and analysis times and adaptability to high throughput format.... Recent advances in the field involve a fast SPME-based approach, where absorption and derivatisation are accomplished in a single step by adding the derivatising chiral reagent directly into the urine sample matrix (Wang, 2005) and the application of automated headspace solid-phase dynamic extraction (SPDE) coupled with GC/MS, for the determination of amphetamines and synthetic designer drugs in hair samples (Musshof et al....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Effect of Colour on Advertising

This essay describes how advertising use colors to attract customers and how it trigger our emotions.... The new wave of advertising has started aiming at the subconscious mind by that changing how we think.... The advertiser has become a person who plays with your mind and alters your likes and dislikes....
23 Pages (5750 words) Essay

How Animals Obtain Energy

The process takes place under aerobic conditions because oxygen acts as the electron acceptor in the electron transport chain, to produce H2O.... After some time, gases are to be collected from the headspace and subjected to mass spectrometric analysis which can separate the CO2 based on their molecular weights.... Further analysis shows that most of the hydrocarbon chains have a carboxyl group at one end.... Further analysis will even show if these fatty acids are either saturated or unsaturated with hydrogen atoms....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Tourism as the Huge Industry in the United Kingdom

As fewer people opt to travel for the holidays due to cash-strapped financial conditions, UK hotels are finding it hard to fill their rooms and making it necessary to cut profits to be able to sustain the business.... A deeper analysis of London average room rates indicate that the steepest decline was mostly in the financial district (city) as shown in Figure 3....
5 Pages (1250 words) Case Study

Understanding Mental Health

It also affects the social, physical along with psychological conditions of patients having a mental illness.... Various types of physical illnesses can be attached to mental health, which includes depression, bipolar disorder, psychosis, anxiety, self-harm and eating disorder (headspace, n....
12 Pages (3000 words) Coursework

A Generalized Perspective

From this paper, it is clear that depression in medical and psychological terms is considered as a negative factor that isolates an individual from the surrounding social environment.... The provided case describes the depressive condition of Peter, a 35-year-old married individual with two children....
8 Pages (2000 words) Assignment

The Barriers Perceived by Teenagers in Accessing Mental Health Care

eta-analysis ❏ Systematic Review ❏ Randomized Controlled Trial ❏ ... The paper "The Barriers Perceived by Teenagers in Accessing Mental Health Care" is of much significance in the field of mental health management especially for adolescents and children.... The study is necessary so as to reveal the barriers perceived by teenagers in accessing mental health care....
8 Pages (2000 words) Term Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us