MiniCansTM and Bottle-VacsTM allow accelerant extraction from debris the same day, rather than waiting 24 hours required for classical charcoal strip passive transfer and solvent extraction, with 10 to 100 times greater sensitivity!

Overview


Trace Chemical Analysis, Accelerant Extraction and Analysis

The detection of trace levels of accelerants during arson investigation, the presence of drugs of abuse, or simply the detection of a chemical signature of evidentiary nature is often limited by how well the chemical signal can be properly “amplified” to allow detection and identification by todays GCMS systems (Gas Chromatograph / Mass Spectrometer). This generally means providing a very large volume of sample to the GCMS to boost the signal, thereby improving detection limits. High resolution gas chromatography, however, requires a very small volume injection, as these columns are simply too narrow to allow more than 0.2–0.4cc of sample to be injected (typically 0.01 – 0.013” ID). Entech has developed large volume preconcentration systems for decreasing the vapor phase volume 1 million fold, reducing a 1 liter sample volume down to literally 1 microliter to allow very rapid injection into GCMS systems optimized for trace analysis. This makes the difference between detecting all chemicals present down to low part-per-trillion levels, or seeing nothing but background air.