Does anyone have any knowledge of, or experience in using hydrogen as carrier with Ni63 EC detectors? (Column to be a wide-bore with nitrogen make-up)

As long as there are sufficient nitrogen molecules in the detector cell to produce the desired thermalized electrons and subsequent standing current, there should not be a problem with using H2 as the carrier gas. Helium at typical narrow and wide bore column flow rates does not affect the standing current. Hydrogen has even fewer available electrons to donate to the electron current in the detector cell.

Optimize the ECD baseline using helium, then substitute hydrogen for the carrier at the desired flow rate. Check the baseline and see if there is any change. Let me know if there is.

There are a couple of ECD's available that are specifically designed for H2 carrier w/ capillary colums. They use internal flow paths to keep the H2 away from the Ni63 foil, where it can cause some problems. Ask your GC manufacturer for details.

No problems with the ECD's but column life appeared shorter. Also more difficult to obtain desired chromatographic results. Used dual set-up for pesticides.

Substituting H2 for helium carrier reduced the sensitivity of the PCB standards we ran on a hp5890 by about half. The baseline decreased by about 20%.

During the temperature ramp the peaks were about 10% less in peak width. During the final hold the decrease in peak width with H2 was about 30% BUT it also merged some of the standards while better separating others.

Try it you may like it.