Abstract
The applicability of electronic pressure control and Taguchi L 27 experimental design to the optimization of the gas chromatographic separation and detection of polychlorinated biphenyls has been evaluated. The influence of several experimental variables, column temperature program, carrier gas pressure program, on‐column injector temperature program, and make‐up gas pressure program, was studied using analysis of variance. Simultaneous optimization of sample introduction, column efficiency, and detector performance could be achieved without compromising system performance. The relationships between system performance and experimental variables were established using regression analysis. Agreement between the simulated and experimental results obtained using suggested optimum conditions demonstrated the applicability of the technique developed in this study. The improvement achieved in the chromatographic separation of PCBs is presented. Copyright © 1994 Hüthig GmbH