NOSAMS
Home > The Sample Prep Lab
Laboratory Capabilities
The AMS Instrument | The Sample
Preparation Lab | Associated
Instruments
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| Mary Lardie
flame-sealing organic carbon samples in combustion tubes
on the vacuum-line system. |
The Sample Preparation Laboratory
The Sample Preparation Lab (SPL) is staffed by 4-5 full-time
technicians who process all natural carbon samples submitted
to the facility and produce graphite (solid carbon) samples
for AMS analysis, including standards and blanks. Members of
the SPL maintain and upgrade apparatus as well as the automation
software that controls all processes.
At present, the
water-stripping lines are operated by a Unix-based workstation.
The two production graphite lines, the smaller-scale graphite-preparation
line and the elemental analyzer are all operated by personal
computers running on Windows with custom LabView control.
Procedures and Laboratory Capabilities of the
SPL
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| Transferring pre-treated wood on filter to a petri dish for drying. |
Isolation of organic materials
- Preparative capillary gas-liquid chromatography (PCGC)
- Two-dimensional PCGC
- High-performance liquid chromatography
- Acid-base-acid removal of carbonate and humic acids
Conversion of samples to CO2
- Carbonate minerals, treatment with H3PO4
- Organic carbon, combustion
- Elemental analyzer (> 1% C, > 25 µmol)
- Sealed-tube combustion (> 2 µmol)
- Dissolved inorganic carbon in natural waters
- Acidification and purging, automated systems
(water
stripping)
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| Josh Burton
sets up to sparge a suite of acidified seawater samples. |
Conversion of CO2 to graphite
and analysis of 13C in CO2
- Automated systems
- Samples
40 µmol C
- Samples 2 - 100 µmol C
- Manual systems, 1 - 100 µmol C
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