Compressed Argon Gas Contamination
We have had some serious difficulties obtaining reliable argon gas supply from our gas supplier that have hindered our ability to use our CyTOF2 reliably since its installation in our current facility. Initially, we were ordering liquid Argon (Ultra High Purity grade), however the Xenon contamination was often not acceptable. We then switched to compressed gas, hoping it would improve the quality of our supply (99.9995% TG AT, Trace Analytical Grade, AR 5.5). Unfortunately, the reliability of our supply is still questionable...
A new issue arose the last couple of days, where a new contaminant was noticed in our new batch of compressed gas argon (supposedly 99.9995% TG AT, Trace Analytical Grade, AR 5.5). As Fluidigm was not able to indicate what the contaminant was, I was wondering if one of you had encountered it before. Attached is a PowerPoint slide with screenshots of TOF and Acquisition windows. When we switched to another batch of argon supply, the contamination seen in the windows was gone.
Would any of you had this type of contamination before?
A few points to note:
- We are not allowed to switch to a different gas supplier, so this is unfortunately not an option.
- We are using a manifold and a gas pipeline across the lab to reach the instrument. This line/manifold is solely connected to our argon supply.
I really would appreciate your insights on this and any tips on best argon supply practices.
Thank you,
Florence