Mass Spectrometry for Advanced Gas Analysis

新的原料和材料被引入能源和化学工业。生物质、废物和二氧化碳对燃料和增值化学品的生产具有特别的意义。现在比以往任何时候都更重要的是，了解我们如何才能最大限度地利用我们的能源资源，以满足子孙后代的需求。在这种背景下，反应器工程研究、催化剂设计和对化学反应机制的理解是至关重要的。实验和分析技术的改进与计算方法的进步相结合，导致了对催化剂行为和新材料和工艺设计的新见解。化学反应途径的机理理解及其相应的动力学描述只能通过使用先进的表征方法来获得。质谱法是一种可以用来分析化学反应中反应物转化和产物形成的速度和数量的技术。所提出的仪器是一个四极杆质谱仪，能够根据其质量电荷比识别和定量气体和蒸汽成分。它设计用于高分析重复性，准确性，长期稳定性，动态范围从10 ppb到100%，采样率在毫秒级。这种特殊的装置可以进行同位素示踪实验和稳态同位素瞬态动力学分析。结合测定反应条件下催化剂表面吸附分子和中间体的表面敏感傅里叶变换红外光谱，可以研究催化反应的详细途径。这对于研究计划中概述的催化和等离子体辅助转化过程的发展是重要的。利用最先进的设备将使HQP（麦吉尔大学工程学院和科学学院）获得气体分析、表面/材料表征和反应工程方面的全面知识，这些都是他们在催化过程和等离子体工程、气化、燃烧和绿色化学方面的研究所需要的。

New feedstocks and materials are introduced into the energy and chemical industries. Biomass, waste and CO2 are of special interest for the production of fuels and value-added chemicals. It is more important than ever to understand how we can get the most out of our energy resources in order to match the needs of future generations. Within this context, reactor engineering research, catalyst design and understanding of chemical reaction mechanisms are of primary importance. Improvements in experimental and analytical techniques in combination with advances in computational methods are leading to new insights into catalyst behavior and design of novel materials and processes. Mechanistic understanding of chemical reaction pathways with their corresponding kinetic description can only be acquired by using advanced characterization methods. Mass spectrometry is one the techniques that can used to analyze how fast and how much of a reactant is converted and product is formed during a chemical reaction. The proposed instrument is a quadrupole mass spectrometer capable of identifying and quantifying gas and vapor components based on their mass-to-charge ratio. It is designed for high analytical repeatability, accuracy, long term stability with a dynamic range from 10 ppb to 100% and a fast sampling rate in the order of milliseconds. This particular device enables isotope tracing experiments and steady-state isotopic transient kinetic analyses. In combination with surface sensitive Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy that determines adsorbed molecules on the catalyst surface and intermediates under reaction conditions, detailed catalyzed reaction pathways can be investigated. This is important for the development of catalyzed and plasma-assisted conversion processes outlined in the research proposal. Utilizing the state-of-the-art setup will allow the HQP’s (McGill's Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Science) to gain comprehensive knowledge in gas analysis, surface/material characterization and reaction engineering, which is needed to pursue their research in catalytic process and plasma engineering, gasification, combustion, and green chemistry.