• How Do Manufacturers Use Gas Chromatography?

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How Do Manufacturers Use Gas Chromatography?

Apr 19 2022

Gas chromatography is a separation technique that can be applied to almost every industry. As a non-destructive and versatile analysis method, it’s a highly sought-after laboratory technique for manufacturers. The possibilities are endless, especially when you consider combining the technique with several others, including mass spectroscopy and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR). Find out how manufacturers use gas chromatography below.

Pharmaceuticals industry

Within the pharmaceuticals industry, accuracy and consistency are crucial. Manufacturers of medicines and pills must know the exact make-up of their products in great detail. They also need to detect any impurities or contaminants, and gas chromatography is ideal for this purpose.

Pharmaceuticals manufacturers use gas chromatography to analyse the chemical components of their drugs and gain a detailed understanding of what their medicines contain and in what quantity. They may also rely on gas chromatography to ensure purity in their products, especially when they begin scaling up production. The separation technique is increasingly used within the pharmaceuticals industry to separate chiral compounds.

Chemicals industry

Similar to pharmaceuticals, the chemicals industry use gas chromatography to analyse products for contaminants, impurities, and other inconsistencies. The technique allows chemical manufacturers to obtain exact quantities of the components of their products and molecular quantities if they combine gas chromatography with another technique, such as mass spectroscopy.

Gas chromatography is used in the chemical industries to ensure the safety of products and lower the risk of defective products. Manufacturers of solvents and emulsifiers, in particular, rely on gas chromatography to ensure the safety and consistency of their products.

A similar application is the petrochemical industry where gas chromatography can be used to identify and detect biomarkers in crude oil. This allows geochemists to obtain information about an oil’s age, geographic origin and geographic distribution, as discussed in ‘GCxGC with Soft Ionisation and High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry Applied to Petroleum Biomarker Analysis’.

Car manufacturers

Most of the manufacturing industry at large uses gas chromatography to help manage quality control. Apart from the chemicals and pharmaceutical industries, the car industry also extensively uses gas chromatography. In this case, manufacturers use the technique to produce large quantities of pure products.

The automotive industry relies on gas chromatography to detect and quantify chemicals released into the air from car interiors. The aim is to lower the amount of harmful or toxic chemicals that are released from seat covers, door linings, and other interior products. Automotive manufacturers use non-destructive separation techniques to identify and quantify volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in their vehicles.


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