Home-made Detection Device for a Mixture of Ethanol and Acetone

Abstract: A device for the detection and determination of ethanol and acetone wasconstructed, consisting of a packed column, a chamber with a sensor head, 2 dc powersupplies, a multimeter and a computer. A commercially available TGS 822 detector head(Figaro Company Limited) was used as the sensor head. The TGS 822 detector consists of aSnO₂ thick film deposited on the surface of an alumina ceramic tube which contains aheating element inside. An analytical column was coupled with the setup to enhance theseparation of ethanol and acetone before they reached the sensor head. Optimum systemconditions for detection of ethanol and acetone were achieved by varying the flow rate of thecarrier gas, voltage of the heating coil (V_H), voltage of the circuit sensor (V_C), loadresistance of the circuit sensor (R_L) and the injector port temperature. The flow of the carriergas was 15 mL/min; the circuit conditions were V_H = 5.5 V, V_C = 20 V, R_L = 68 k ; and theinjection port temperature was 150°C. Under these conditions the retention times (tR) forethanol and acetone were 1.95 and 0.57 minutes, respectively. Calibration graphs wereobtained for ethanol and acetone over the concentration range of 10 to 160 mg/L. The limitsof detection (LOD) for ethanol and acetone were 9.25 mg/L and 4.41 mg/L respectively.