Search

US-12618810-B2 - System for separating an analyte from a sample

US12618810B2US 12618810 B2US12618810 B2US 12618810B2US-12618810-B2

Abstract

A system comprises a separator that separates an analyte from the sample, an analyser, downstream of the separator, configured to obtain measurements indicative of a quantity of the analyte in the sample. A bypass line provides a first fraction of the sample to the analyser for measurement without passing through the separator. A controller receives a measurement obtained by the analyser on the first fraction of the sample, the measurement indicating that the first fraction of the sample received via the bypass line comprises a threshold quantity of the analyte. Activation of the separator is based on the received measurement. A second fraction of the sample is provided to the analyser without passing through the bypass line such that the first fraction of the sample arrives at the analyser before the second fraction of the sample arrives at the separator.

Inventors

  • Nils Stöbener
  • Johannes Schwieters
  • Andreas Hilkert

Assignees

  • THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC (BREMEN) GMBH

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20220701
Priority Date
20210702

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A system for separating an analyte from a sample, comprising: a separator configured to separate the analyte from the sample; an analyser configured to obtain measurements indicative of a quantity of the analyte in the sample, wherein the analyser is downstream of the separator; a bypass line configured to provide a first fraction of the sample to the analyser for measurement without passing through the separator; and a controller configured to: receive a measurement obtained by the analyser on the first fraction of the sample received via the bypass line, the measurement indicating that the first fraction of the sample received via the bypass line comprises a threshold quantity of the analyte; and control activation of the separator based on the received measurement; wherein the system is configured to provide a second fraction of the sample to the analyser without passing through the bypass line and is configured such that the first fraction of the sample arrives at the analyser before the second fraction of the sample arrives at the separator.
  2. 2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to activate the separator based on the received measurement indicating that the first fraction of the sample comprises greater than or equal to a lower threshold quantity of the analyte.
  3. 3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the controller is configured to: determine a time period based on the received measurement; and deactivate the separator after the determined time period.
  4. 4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the time period based on: an intensity of the received measurement; and/or a calibration peak having a known relationship between measurement intensity and peak width.
  5. 5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to deactivate the separator based on the received measurement indicating that the first fraction of the sample comprises less than or equal to an upper threshold quantity of the analyte.
  6. 6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to: receive a plurality of measurements obtained by the analyser on the first fraction of the sample at different times; and control activation of the separator based on each of the received measurements; preferably wherein: the controller is configured to activate the separator based on a first received measurement indicating that the first fraction of the sample comprises at least a lower threshold quantity of the analyte; and the controller is configured to deactivate the separator based on a second received measurement, received after the first received measurement, indicating that the first fraction of the sample comprises less than or equal to an upper threshold quantity of the analyte.
  7. 7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the bypass line is configured to continuously provide the first fraction of the sample to the analyser for measurement without passing through the separator.
  8. 8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first fraction of the sample comprises a first percentage of the sample, wherein the first percentage is: less than or equal to 1%; less than or equal to 2%; less than or equal to 5%; or less than or equal to 10%.
  9. 9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is configured such that the second fraction of the sample passes through the separator.
  10. 10 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a splitter upstream of the separator, the analyser and the bypass line, wherein the splitter is configured to split the sample into the first fraction and the second fraction section fractions of the sample.
  11. 11 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising an outlet, wherein the controller is configured to cause the outlet to discard or transport away a portion of the second fraction of the sample that passes through the separator while the separator is activated.
  12. 12 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a delay line configured to delay the second fraction of the sample relative to the first fraction of the sample.
  13. 13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the delay line comprises a capillary tube dimensioned to delay the second fraction of the sample relative to the first fraction of the sample.
  14. 14 . The system of claim 1 , wherein: the separator comprises a trap; and the controller is configured to deactivate the trap to release at least a portion of the second fraction of the sample to the analyser, based on the received measurement indicating that the first fraction of the sample comprises less than or equal to an upper threshold quantity of the analyte.
  15. 15 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the second fraction of the sample comprises a second percentage of the sample, wherein the second percentage is: greater than or equal to 90%; greater than or equal to 95%; greater than or equal to 98%; or greater than or equal to 99%.
  16. 16 . The system of claim 1 , configured such that a majority of the sample is provided to the analyser without passing through the bypass line.
  17. 17 . The system of claim 1 , comprising one or more further separators.
  18. 18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein at least one further separator is upstream of the bypass line, preferably wherein at least two further separators are upstream of the bypass line.
  19. 19 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the bypass line comprises at least one further separator, preferably wherein the bypass line comprises a trap or a selective trap.
  20. 20 . The system of claim 17 , wherein at least one further separator is downstream of the separator, preferably wherein the system comprises a further bypass line configured to provide a further fraction of the sample to the analyser for measurement without passing through the further separator.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This is the U.S. National Stage of International Application No. PCT/EP2022/068329, filed Jul. 1, 2022, which was published in English under PCT Article 21 (2), which in turn claims the benefit of GB Application No. 2109627.6 filed Jul. 2, 2021, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. FIELD The present disclosure relates to a system for separating an analyte from a sample. BACKGROUND A separation process is a method that converts a sample, which may be a mixture of substances, into two or more distinct portions. Various instruments exist that are configured to perform separation processes. Some separation processes exploit differences in chemical properties and/or physical properties (e.g. boiling point, melting point, or other chemical properties) between the constituents of a mixture. Some separation processes use valves or arrangements of valves, which physically divide samples (e.g. to separate samples temporally and/or spatially), without discriminating based on chemical properties and/or physical properties of the samples. Often, separation is employed in order to obtain a portion or subset of the original sample that is relatively enriched in a species of interest or analyte. When this occurs, another portion of the sample that is relatively depleted in the analyte is also produced. This further portion may be a waste product or it may comprise another species that is of interest. In some cases, separation processes seek to divide a sample fully, into almost pure, isolated constituents, while in other cases, partial separation is acceptable or desirable. Scientific instruments and analytical instruments are often used to characterise the properties of a particular species of interest or analyte. In such instruments, separation can be employed to enhance the measurements that are obtained. If an analyte is present in a relatively small quantity in a sample (e.g. the analyte is only 1% of the total sample), then any measurements obtained based on the relatively small quantity of analyte may be clouded by interfering species in the sample (e.g. measurement artefacts arising due to the other 99% of the sample). Separation can therefore help to reduce the effects of interference or background noise in scientific and analytical instruments. Some separation systems use cryotraps to separate analyte from a sample. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,490,506 describes a detector means provided upstream of a first cooling portion of a conduit means, so as to allow control of the residence time of a chemical sample fluid stream in a cooled portion or portions of the conduit means. U.S. Pat. No. 7,490,506 also describes allowing thermal modulation of a fluid stream of a chemical mixture eluted from a first GC column that one wishes to completely separate in a second GC column. U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,798 describes the use of analyte traps. A detector is mounted on an analyte trap so as to analyse the headspace of a sample passing through the analyte trap. The detector generates a control signal that is employed for opening and closing port valves, to effect the analytical procedure known as “heart-cutting” or “Dean switching”, in which only a portion of analyte desorbed off a trap is directed to a gas chromatograph for analysis. U.S. Pat. No. 10,115,577 describes isotope ratio mass spectrometry. Isotope ratio mass spectrometry is effected by: injecting a sample for analysis into a gas chromatography column; directing an effluent from the gas chromatography column to a switching arrangement; and selecting a configuration of the switching arrangement, such that: in a first mode, the effluent from the gas chromatography column is provided as an input to a peak broadener; and in a second mode, an effluent from the peak broadener is provided to a mass spectrometer for isotope ratio mass spectrometry without the effluent from the gas chromatography column being provided as an input to the peak broadener. While known systems for separating samples perform adequately in many scenarios, some suffer from contamination or discard unacceptable amounts of analyte, which be problematic in analytical instruments (e.g. spectroscopy, mass spectrometry (MS), electrochemical analysis, elemental analysis (EA), and thermal analysis). Moreover, separation systems can be complex and difficult to configure, involving numerous detectors and analysers, requiring various interacting components and control circuitry. This can lead to there being numerous potential modes of failure. It is an object of this disclosure to address these and other problems in separation systems. SUMMARY Against this background and in accordance with a first aspect, there is provided a system according to claim 1. In a second aspect, there is provided a method according to claim 30. In general terms, the disclosure provides a system for separating an analyte from a sample, comprising: a separator configured to sepa