Density Modulated Semi-Packed Micro Gas Chromatography Columns

With the continued evolution of MEMS-based gas chromatography, the drive to develop new standalone systems with lower power consumptions and higher portability has increased. However, with improvements come tradeoffs, and trying to reduce the pressure drop requirements of previously reported semi-packed columns causes a significant sacrifice in separation efficiency. This thesis covers the techniques for evaluating the separation column in a gas chromatography system as well as the important parameters that have the most effect on a column’s efficiency. Ionic liquids are introduced as a stable and versatile stationary phase for micro separation columns. It then describes a MEMS-based separation column design utilizing density modulation of embedded micro-pillars which attempts to optimize the balance between separation efficiency and pressure drop.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical Engineering

Department dc:contributor.department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Chan, Ryan

Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair

• Agah, Masoud
• Hudait, Mantu K.

Committee member dc:contributor.committeemember

• Jia, Xiaoting

• MEMS
• gas chromatography
• separation column
• density modulated
• micro pillars

Statement dc:rights

• Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/83448

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/83448