Today the GC-ECD was tested and appears to be working well. The detectors are running a bit high so a bake out is in progress for the weekend. The bake-out will degrade and volatilize any residual coatings on/in the detector thus lowering the background signal. The detectors were baked briefly yesterday and the background signal did significantly come down. The current background for both ECD detectors is currently around 750, optimally a value below 500 is desired, so I'll see what a longer bake out does. The original background before any work began had the front at about 2500 and the rear about 1200, so both were dirty.
The GC-ECD was tested with hexane samples today and it does not appear that there is any residual contamination. Samples taken from the roto-vaps to check for contamination did confirm that these were initially contaminated. A subsequent washing of the systems removed the contamination, and all was happy again in the lab.
Anna and her crew worked on finishing the LFT extractions. These extractions are progressing well and all are doing a good job following procedures. I have not seen any problems to note so far with the extractions.
Once the box of supplies from OSU shows we can begin final preparation of the samples and the method calibration.
So far all is progressing as expected.
Reporting from Senegal, Good night and Good Luck. TAH
Friday, August 19, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Week 1 Day 1 - The Beginning
Today was the first day at the CERES lab.
Items accomplished and discussed.
1. New columns installed on the GC-ECD system, and the new method put on the system.
2. New injector liners installed (and septa also)
3. Detectors reading very high so a bake out was warranted, system is currently baking the detectors. The detectors responses were still coming down, so it was decided to let them bake overnight.
4. MS-Office was installed on the GC-ECD so the spreadsheets and Word documents could be opened and manipulated.
5. The new bench sheets are being used, as Anna and company began LFT extractions (see pics plus several general lab shots included for free).
6. Anna and I discussed the other files and documents and we will cover the new SOP and calculations in more detail in the coming days.
7. An exploration of the internet connection finds it to be present but very slow. A test of the connection to the OSU server will be attempted in the next working day or two to see if the CERES lab can get into LIMS.