Abstract
There is increasing interest in miniaturized systems for chemical analysis in harsh environments. Detailed chemical analysis involves separation methods prior to detection. Depending upon the analytes of interest, gas chromatography (i.e. for volatile species) or liquid chromatography (i.e. for polar organics or large biomolecules) can be utilized. Over the last 5–10 years one can observe a strong drive towards portable capillary electrophoresis systems, which has led to a variety of successful devices. This is due to ease of miniaturization and robustness of capillary electrophoresis. This paper describes the REQUIREMENTSof analytical separation instruments intended for operation in harsh environments, e.g. at volcanoes, inside oil wells, in cold deserts of Antarctica, or even on the surfaces of other planets in our solar system.
Abbreviations
AMD, amperometric detector; C4D, capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detector; CE, capillary electrophoresis; GC, gas chromatography; HPLC, high performance liquid chromatography; LIF, laser induced fluorescence; MS, mass-spectrometry
Keywords
Environmental analytical chemistry; Extraterrestrial environments; Portable analysers; Chromatography; Capillary electrophoresis