Gas Bench

The BEIF lab is equipped with a Gas Bench II linked to Thermo Delta V ("Bob"), designed for headspace analysis of high precision on-line isotope ratio determination of gas species in carbonates and waters. 

It is used for the isotopic analysis of  δ¹⁸O & δ¹³C (after acid addition) of carbonate material (such as Carbonate Sediments and Depositions, Foraminifera, Ostracods, Speleothems, ...), of the carbonate fraction of tooth enamel,

It can also be used for the isotopic analysis of δ¹⁸O of water via equilibration (with CO₂) or to measure δ¹³C in DIC (i.e. Dissolved Inorganic Carbon), following addition of acid in the sample.

A CTC Pal autosampler is used to inject a sampling needle into the vial and a He flow mixes with and pushes the headspace gas (released from the material by acidification) out through a Nafion drying tube, acting as a water trap, and to a sampling loop. 

The sampling loop periodically switches so that the gas in the loop is directed to a gas chromatograph column (GC), another drying tube, and then the open split to the mass spectrometer for analysis.

NB: Problems will occur if your sample has volatile components such as small organic compounds and NOx, as they may be released into the headspace and interfere with that analysis or potentially the analysis of later runs. 

BEIF routinely achieve precisions of ±0.04‰ and ±0.08‰ for δ1³C and δ¹⁸O respectively, against laboratory and international standards.

Thinking of submitting your samples for analyses? see our price list here