The ELEMENTRAC ONH–p 2 device is an elemental analyser. By melting samples in a pulse
furnace, the device is able to determine oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen concentration in inorganic samples. The gaseous combustion products are measured by infrared and thermal conductivity cells.
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The combustion analyzer heats up samples in its crucible to the melting point. This causes the sample to release oxygen which reacts with the graphite crucibles to produce carbon monoxide, which is filtered for and turned into carbon dioxide by the traps shown in the pictures.
The carbon dioxide then passes through a thermal conductivity detector, which then measures its concentration. This concentration is equal to the initial oxygen in the sample, telling us the initial oxygen concentration. The process is similar for hydrogen, but the released hydrogen doesn’t react with anything in the traps. It measures concentrations in the ppm range.