Forensic analysis of explosives and accelerants

Thermo Electron announces the availability of GC and GC/MS systems designed to increase productivity when performing forensic analysis of explosive residues and accelerants in arson studies

Featured at the 58th annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Scientists (AAFS) in Seattle, Washington in February 2006, these innovative systems guarantee the effective and efficient analysis of forensic samples in investigations by security, homeland security and police, as well as forensic laboratories, says Thermo.

For the analysis of explosive residues, Thermo provides a complete system comprising the DSQ GC/MS, Xcalibur software and the TriPlus autosampler which provides automated injections.

This achieves minimised degradation and timely results while adhering to quality control criteria developed specifically for the analysis of explosive residues.

The system utilises automated cold-on-column injection to minimise component breakdown and reduce overall analysis time, ideal for compounds such as HMX that are inherently difficult to analyse by GC/MS.

For the analysis of accelerants in arson studies, Thermo has combined the extremely fast oven performance of the Focus GC with the flexibility in operation of TriPlus headspace autosampler.

This achieves significant time savings by performing analysis of principal accelerants such as acetone, methylated spirit, gas oil and high octane petrol five times faster than conventional gas chromatography.

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