Shimadzu Mini 2 GC

My company (UK based) has recently acquired a manufacturing facility in
Delaware USA. They are using a Shimadzu Mini 2 GC with a 6' x 1/8"
stainless steel Porapak Q column to measure retained solvent (MEK) in a
coated film. The film is diluted to a concentration of 20% in acetone
and then 20 µl is pipetted into a 5 ml septum sealed glass vial which
is then incubated at 120°C . Approximately 250µl of the headspace is
injected into the GC with a heated gas syringe. The GC is run
isothermally at 200°C - acetone solvent and MEK elute at 2 mins and
3.5 mins respectively. The chromatography is awful as the MEK sits on
the acetone tail. Even more alarming is that the acetone is used as an
internal standard and the peak is off scale!!
They want to use the same technique to measure retained solvent in a
different coated film that is based on toluene and I have been given
the unenviable task of helping - difficult when one is over 3,500
miles away! Below is a list of questions which I would be grateful for
some answers (note - the GC is used by non technical staff so they
cannot help me):

1) Can you still get spares and consumables (ferrules, septa etc) for
this GC either in the USA or UK ? I have contacted Shimadzu UK but have
not had a reply.

2) Can this GC be converted to use a Megabore capillary column? If not,
can anyone suggest a better packed column to separate acetone, MEK and
toluene - the Porapak Q is far too retentive and the efficiency is
dreadful - only 1,100 theoretical plates for toluene.

3) Does the GC injector have a glass liner and can one get them with
different internal diameters? I would like to use SPME instead of a
heated gas syringe as this gives much better precision.

Thanks in anticipation.

.

Relevant Pages

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