Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed an innovative gas chromatography (GC) method for the determination of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in mineral insulating oil using solid phase micro extraction (SPME) and gas chromatography with an electron capturedetector (ECD). The identification of PCBs is performed on samples of insulating oil after oxidation to perform a thorough method validation.

Poster Note 10327, Method Development for a Simple and Reliable Determination of PCBs in Mineral Insulating Oil by SPME-GC-ECD, compares results obtained using four methods, including automated SPME, manual SPME, solid phase extraction (SPE) with Florisil, and completely automated SPE with sulfoxide. SPME and sulfoxide provide much higher accuracy, and SPME can be to improve process and method consistency, and it enables the scaling-down of volumes. The validation study gives satisfactory results in terms of selectivity, linearity, repeatability, intermediate precision, and recovery.

Learn more about the TRACE 1300 Series GC at www.thermoscientific.com/trace1300.