Technical Bulletin No. 0614: Development of a Gas Chromatographic Protocol for the Measurement of Krypton Gas in Water and Demonstration of its Use in Stream Reaeration Measurement

The objectives of this work were to: (a) investigate the feasibility of using a gas chromatographic (GC) technique for the measurement of a non-radioactive krypton gas in water, (b) develop the appropriate gas handling and cleanup apparatus required, and (c) demonstrate that current GC technology would provide sufficient sensitivity to conduct reaeration measurements on small to medium size streams (10 - 200 cfs). The study confirms that krypton/argon ratios in water samples can be measured with a Gas Chromatograph following an aggressive gas processing procedure that removes water vapor, nitrogen, and other non-noble gases. The ratio of krypton desorbed to oxygen absorbed was estimated to be 0.83 in a laboratory tank test.