Plate Number and Resolution: Indicators of Qualitative Reliability
Introduction
Analytical quality control is the set of processes and procedures designed to produce and ensure a reliable measurement from an analytical system. The purposes of analytical quality control (as opposed to process quality control) are to demonstrate the successful performance of the analytical system (in the short term, a process known either as validation or bench-marking), and to gather the data that will allow prediction of the need for non-routine maintenance (in the long term). The goals of such a quality program is to ensure the reliability of the analyzer’s results, to maximize the analyzer’s “Up time,” and to minimize the costs associated with analyzer maintenance. The regular and frequent analysis of a quality reference material, together with trend analysis performed on the results, can be used to predict the need for preventive maintenance, non-routine maintenance, and to demonstrate which components of the analytical system need to be serviced.
The process gas chromatograph (or GC) delivers both qualitative and quantitative results, so both qualitative (retention time) and quantitative (response) axes must be tested regularly. A systematic primary study, performed during instrument commissioning, demonstrates the short-term precision of the process analyzer and will provide results to which future analytical quality control measurements can be compared.
Read More »