Analysis of hydrogen isotopes with gas chromatography

Hydrogen isotopes, H-2, HD and D-2, are difficult to be separated and quantified with conventional gas chromatographs. Amelioration was, therefore, made using twin packing columns of modified alumina immersed in liquid nitrogen, and the influence of bridge current, detection temperature, carrier gas flow rate, injection amount and the sort of carrier gas on the retention time, shape of peak and signal sensitivity were investigated presently. It was shown that the modified chromatography and the selected analysis condition, namely, bridge current 180 mA, detection temperature 120 degrees C, He carrier gas flow rate 110 cm(3)/min and injection amount 0.1 mL, produced the retention time 66 s, 79 s and 94 s for H-2, HD and D-2, respectively and the peaks have a good shape. As a result, reliable quantitative results were obtained.