Fourier Transform infrared portable

Two types of portable analytical equipment were approved by the Conference of State Parties for on-site analysis, that is, GC/MS and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). Initially, it was anticipated that FTIR might be used in storage, destruction and Schedule 1 facilities for screening purposes to confirm the presence of declared chemicals. While FTIR analysis is suitable to identify pure chemicals or certain chemicals in mixtures at varying detection limits, FTIR cannot be used to analyze for absence of undeclared scheduled chemicals, for which the IT would have to carry in addition to the FUR a GC/MS. For GC/MS analysis samples are analyzed at very low concentration contrary to FTIR analysis, which minimizes the risk of contamination in the on-site laboratory and reduces the risk of exposure of OPCW inspectors and on-site personnel. Considering the limitations of FUR and the fact that GC/MS can cover the field of application of the FUR for OPCW purposes, a decision was taken in 2000 to focus on the use of GC/MS in the OPCW mobile laboratory subject to future developments. 

Fourier transform/infrared spectrometry (FT/IR) detects and identifies CWAs by measuring the infrared spectrum of the air sample noninvasively and instantly (Mukhopadhyay 2004). Considering the interference of water and carbon dioxide, characteristic absorbance peaks in the low-wave number region are used as the specific marker. Portable FT-IR equipment is commercially available. IGA-1700 (Otsuka Electronics, Japan) and DX-4000 (Temet, Finland) showed... 

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