Novel reduced pressure-balance syringe for chromatographic analysis

When withdrawing a fluid sample (for additional chromatographic analyses) from an apparatus operated at a reduced pressure, a typical syringe proves to be ineffective (even if it is equipped with a gas tight plunger). It simply does not create enough pressure differential to remove a fluid sample from a reduced pressure environment. We encountered such a situation as part of efforts to extend the operation of the advanced distillation curve protocol to reduced pressures. The problem was solved by the development of a pressure balance syringe that allows reliable and precise sampling from an apparatus operating at sub-ambient pressures. This new device uses an external vacuum source to evacuate a syringe barrel, allowing a user to withdraw fluid samples from environments with pressures as low as 0.5 kPa. To demonstrate the operation of the newly developed device, distillate analyses were performed on two fluids at low pressure: a predefined validation mixture, and a commercial soy based biodiesel fuel. The pressure balance syringe was used successfully for sampling in both cases. The use of the pressure balance syringe is not limited to reduced pressure distillations; indeed it can be used for a variety of applications in which chemical/compositional analyses are desired on a fluid contained in a reduced pressure environment.