Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security, 4 Volume Set

A TANDEM MOBILITY SPECTROMETER FOR CHEMICAL AGENT AND TOXIC INDUSTRIAL CHEMICAL MONITORING

H. WILLIAM NIU, DAVID E. BURCHFIELD, AND ANDREW W. SZUMLAS

Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation, Pomona, California

ANDREW ANDERSON

Sionex Corporation, Bedford, Massachusetts

1 INTRODUCTION

Increased efforts by government agencies to provide chemical warning systems for military and civilian locations have fueled the search for more sensitive and selective detectors. To better satisfy the demands required of sensors for these applications, we have developed an instrument that combines the technologies of differential and ion mobility. These two spectrometric techniques separate chemical warfare agent (CWA) and toxic industrial chemical (TIC) compounds in a complementary fashion, and allow the differential mobility spectrometer (DMS)–ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) to provide sensitive and selective detection for homeland security applications. This article describes the tandem DMS-IMS, its salient features, and the benefits that can be realized by application of the new sensor to homeland security applications.

2 SCIENTIFIC OVERVIEW OF TANDEM MOBILITY SPECTROMETRY

The detection capability of an analytical instrument is not only limited by detector sensitivity, but also by the environmental background presented in the sample. Hyphenated instrumentation uses combinations of two analytical techniques that enhance selectivity and interference rejection capability. An innovative example of this type ...