[Christoffer]

MOD EDIT
Attached similar post from the past


Hi all! I'm new here!

I'm designing a (somewhat) novel gas chromatograph and want to make a simple proof-of-concept packed RP column for it.

Early GC's used ground firebrick coated in paraffin, and I'm going to go with alumina coated in the same. I can't really get my head around how to coat the alumina, as I only want to fill the pores of the fairly porous mineral, and not have an oily sludge.

Here's my plan so far, but I haven't tried it yet:
-suspend the alumina in a stirred solution of liquid paraffin in heptane (maybe 10%) , hopefully the paraffin will adsorb onto the alumina to some degree
-suction filter off the solution
-wash with heptane to get rid of excess paraffin, hopefully the adsorbed paraffin won't all be extracted/washed off
-wash with acetone to get rid of heptane
-dry
-pack column

I know there's a million options for bought columns that will beat a homemade one on every front, but I want to do this for the challenge.

I have also considered the same procedure but with palmitic or stearic acid, as the acid group would probably interact more strongly with the alumina support.

What do you think? Has anyone tried something like this?

Thanks in advance!

[Christoffer]

Hey all! I've been messing around with homebrewing a GC for a while, and these are the results so far! A functional GC-TCD that takes packed and micro-packed columns,
constructed using (virtually) no chromatography-specific parts.

Hope you'll find it interesting!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc6VKQSX5j8

--Chris