Building science education tools : a low-cost medium pressure liquid chromatograph

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Chemistry

Department

Chemistry

First Advisor

Oppus, Carlos M., M.S

Abstract

High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) systems are valuable to various laboratories around the world for their ease of use, speed, and high resolution in separating components of non-volatile complex mixtures. HPLCs however have special components and high prices. The high cost of an HPLC poses a problem to many academic institutions required to train students with a limited budget.A Medium Pressure Liquid Chromatography (MPLC) system is presented as a low-cost alternative for the HPLC for use in training in the academic setting. The system built uses components and materials easily sourced in the Philippines. The instrument designed is isocratic and for use in ambient temperatures. Its detector is a simplified spectrometer assembled using basic circuit components and an Arduino compatible microcontroller board. The detector is capable of in-line data acquisition as well as stand-alone runs. A cross-platform graphic user interface was also built using Processing software to display and save resulting data. The materials used for the MPLC system amount to less than Php25,000.00. Even with labor and tooling costs, the produced prototype system costs less than Php100,000.

Comments

The C4.L366 2017

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