Both synthetic and natural polymeric materials (such as biomass and tobacco) produce fixed gases, in addition to the larger molecules better suited to capillary GC analysis. Products such as CO, CO2, water, methane, ethylene, among others, may be produced when a polymer is pyrolyzed. But, the resolution of the capillary GC and the simplicity of the mass spectra may not provide the certainty desired in identifying these compounds, which are potentially useful in calculating BTU values and mass balance.

To assist in analyzing for these fixed gases, CDS has designed a unique add-on feature for the popular trapping pyrolyzer systems which addresses this need. By adding a small chromatographic column and thermal conductivity detector to the outlet of the analytical trap, users will be capable of analyzing for the fixed gases that are normally purged from the system before analyzing pyrolzates from a sample.