A new look at the sorption kinetics in reference gas standards

Publication

A new look at the sorption kinetics in reference gas standards

VSL supplies reference gas standards in cylinders with very low uncertainties for the calibration of analytical instruments in environmental and energy applications. The preparation of these standards is typically done in high pressure cylinders using the gravimetric method. This method has limited use, however, for gases that adsorb or react on the cylinder wall. For such components, the adage “what comes in must come out” no longer holds. In the MetClimVOC project (https://www.metclimvoc.eu/), VSL developed an innovative approach to follow the adsorption and desorption phenomena of low levels of methanol in cylinders based on the use of different methanol isotopes and a new laser spectroscopic method able to discriminate them. Here, methanol was selected as it is an important tracer of anthropogenic emissions and strongly adsorbs to the cylinder wall. The availability of reliable standards is essential to monitoring methanol trends for climate change studies. Demand for such standards will likely increase due to the introduction of green methanol (i.e., bio-methanol produced from biomass or e-methanol produced from green hydrogen and CO₂) as part of the energy transition.