Hydrogen has been widely adopted as a carrier gas to replace nitrogen and helium in GC
applications for a variety of reasons. Superior advantages include faster analysis, lower cost and
the reliability of supply that hydrogen (generated on-site) offers. The purity of carrier gas is
crucial for higher performance, lower maintenance and the longevity of analytical instruments.
High purity carrier gas lowers baseline noise and provides better sensitivity and longer column
and gas trap life. The required purity for hydrogen carrier gas is 99.9995% (research grade) for
trace work under 1 ppm, or at least 99.999% for most normal analyses. Recent analyses from
two third-party testing laboratories aid in understanding the importance of using research grade
hydrogen gas generators to supply carrier gas to analytical instruments. This paper focuses on
evaluating different hydrogen sources and addressing the benefits of using research grade
hydrogen gas generators to meet the critical requirements of carrier gas for gas chromatography
applications.
