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Environment

Helium Substitute

April 8, 2013 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 91, Issue 14

I’m writing in response to “Coping with the Helium Shortage” (C&EN, Feb. 4, page 18). The National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC), of which I am chief executive officer, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the justice and defense communities through innovative programs, evaluation of the latest technologies, training, laboratory support, and consulting. NFSTC has been using hydrogen as a carrier gas since 2008 for deployed operations. This was done as part of a Defense Threat Reduction Agency project to develop field-portable forensic testing laboratory capabilities, including a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer for the military.

NFSTC worked with FLIR Systems, which makes the Griffin 450/460 series GC/MS, to convert the units’ carrier gas to hydrogen, easily produced by a hydrogen generator. This allowed for operation where helium was not readily available and with no loss in analytical capability.

Kevin Lothridge
Largo, Fla.

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