GFZ German research centre for geo sciences

COY Vinyl Anaerobic Chamber

Contact: Marc Christian Paje

The anaerobic chamber (97% N2 / 3% H2, Coy Lab Products) is a heavy duty, flexible vinyl chamber that allows us to synthesize Fe(II)-bearing iron mineral phases (e.g., nZVI, green rust, magnetite, iron sulfides) that oxidize in air. The chamber has a strict anoxic atmosphere (< 5 ppm O2), which is maintained by the catalytic reduction of O2 using H2 (~3%) by the reusable palladium-coated alumina Stak-Pak in front of recirculating fans. The humidity in the chamber is also kept low by extra alumina desiccant Stak-Pak. The H2 levels inside the chamber is kept at ~3% at all times using an automatic gas mix infuser that is connected to an H2/O2 gas monitor (CAM-12).

Our anaerobic chamber has two workstations separated by a vacuum airlock which allows rapid sample transfer without changes in chamber atmosphere. One of the workstations is used for mineral synthesis and is equipped with multi-position stirrers and an autotitrator. The other workstation is mainly used for mineral processing and anoxic sample preparation for solid-state characterization. Since there are two separate workstations, it is also possible to operate them under different gas atmospheres (i.e., one with 97% N2 / 3% H2 and the other with 87% N2 / 10% CO2 / 3% H2).


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