Progress of Cryogenics and Isotopes Separation , ISSN: 1582-2575
2010, Volume 13, Issue 1

Calibration of a GSD 320 Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer for Hydrogen and Deuterium Gas Mixtures Analysis

Abstract

To caracterize the performance of a cryogenic distillation column for hydrogen isotopes separation, the concentration of hydrogen isotopic species in several points along the column have to be measured fast and with high accuracy. For this purpose a GSD 320 quadrupole mass spectrometer will be used. The major issues of mass spectrometric analysis of hydrogen isotopes mixtures are the isobaric interferences due to ionic species that are produced inside the ion source by dissociation of molecules, or by reactions between ions and neutral molecules. In our previous work we performed theoretical and experimental investigations to characterize the dependence between the ion current intensities and the partial pressures of all hydrogen isotopic species in the mixtures. Another objective was to established procedures for determining of all correction factors needed for a proper subtracting of the isobaric contributions. But an analysis is only as good as its calibration, and a proper calibration could be performed basing on our previous results. In this paper we present the most appropriate procedure chosen to calibrate the GSD 320 quadrupole mass spectrometer, for our particular analysis conditions, and the results of the calibration process.