Patent Publication Number: US-7211793-B2

Title: Mass spectrometry system and method

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention is directed to an inlet system for a mass spectrometer that facilitates analysis, and a method for analyzing a gas by mass spectrometry. 
   2. Description of Related Art 
   Mass spectrometry systems and mass spectrometry methods for analysis are both known in the art, and are utilized to analyze chemical compounds including gases made up of various components. In particular, mass spectrometric analysis techniques allow the components of the gas being analyzed to be identified and measured. Mass spectrometry systems and techniques offer various advantages that are not provided by many other analytical equipment and techniques. These advantages include a very fast response time, and the ability to analyze variety of gas components using the same equipment. Moreover, mass spectrometry systems are relatively economical, thereby allowing analysis of chemical compounds such as gases, in a cost effective manner. 
   For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,412 to Ebner et al. discloses an apparatus and a method for carrying out catalysis and catalyzed chemical reactions. In particular, the reference discloses a reactor with a catalyst zone, under vacuum, into which a very rapid pulse of reactant gas is pulsed. The products are analyzed by mass spectrometry. The reference further discloses that the apparatus and method can detect reaction intermediates and products, and can indicate their sequence of production. 
   U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,171 to Dovichi et al. discloses a reactor for reacting, and analyzing, a sample organic molecule. The reference discloses that the reactor includes a continuous capillary connected between two valves that control fluid flow in the capillary. One part of the capillary is disclosed as forming a reaction chamber where the sample may be immobilized to allow subsequent reaction with reagents that are supplied through the valves. Another part of the capillary is disclosed as passing through, or terminating in, a detector portion of a mass spectrometer. 
   In view of the above noted advantages, mass spectrometry systems and methods have been implemented to analyze, and to measure, gas composition in exhaust gases of internal combustion engines. In particular, mass spectrometry systems and methods have been used to analyze and measure gas components in exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) manifolds, as well as in exhaust after-treatment devices such as NOx adsorbers. 
   However, some components of the exhaust gas that are generated by an internal combustion engine may be difficult to measure, even when mass spectrometry equipment and methods of analysis are used. Some components of exhaust gas such as various hydrocarbons cannot be analyzed or measured accurately using mass spectrometry equipment and methods of analysis. 
   Therefore, in view of the above, there exists an unfulfilled need for a mass spectrometry system for analyzing components of a gas that overcomes the limitations of conventional mass spectrometry systems. There also exists an unfulfilled need for a method of analyzing a gas by mass spectrometry that overcomes the limitations of conventional mass spectrometry techniques, and further allows the above noted analysis and measurements to be attained. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The above noted difficulty in measuring some components of the exhaust gas is largely due to ions or fragments of certain exhaust gas components interfering with ions or fragments of other components of the exhaust gas. For example, conventional low-mass-resolution mass spectrometry equipment and methods of analysis cannot readily measure carbon monoxide (CO) in the presence of nitrogen (N). This is due to the fact that both CO and N appear at a mass-to-charge ratio (m/e) of 28 atomic mass unit (AMU) in mass spectrometric method of analysis. In addition, various hydrocarbons possess very similar fragmentation products which prevent accurate attribution of the mass spectrometry signal at a given mass-to-charge ratio. 
   In view of the foregoing, one aspect of the present invention is a mass spectrometry system for analyzing components of a gas that overcomes the limitations of conventional mass spectrometry systems. 
   An advantage of the present invention is in providing a mass spectrometry system that allows the analysis and measurement of gas components which are subject to isobaric interference from other components of the gas. 
   Still another advantage of the present invention is in providing a mass spectrometry system that allows the analysis and measurement of various gas components that possess similar fragmentation patterns. 
   Another aspect of the present invention is in providing a method of analyzing a gas by mass spectrometry that overcomes the limitations of conventional mass spectrometry techniques. 
   These and other advantages and features of the present invention are provided by a mass spectrometry system for analyzing components of a gas including a mass spectrometer adapted to analyze components of the gas, and an inlet capillary fluidically connected to the mass spectrometer to convey a sample of the gas to the mass spectrometer. The inlet capillary includes an inner bore with a bore wall having a catalytic coating thereon for reacting with at least one component of the sampled gas to convert the component to another gas species as the gas is conveyed through the inlet capillary. The mass spectrometer is adapted to analyze the converted gas species to derive information associated with the component of gas. 
   In accordance with one application of the present invention, the gas analyzed is an exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine that includes carbon monoxide and nitrogen gas components. In one embodiment, the catalytic coating includes palladium and/or platinum, and converts the carbon monoxide component of the gas into carbon dioxide. The catalytic coating may be applied to the bore wall in any appropriate manner, for example, by chemical vapor deposition or deposition-precipitation. In accordance with another embodiment, the mass spectrometry system further includes a heater adapted to heat the catalytic coating. In this regard, the heater may be positioned on an outer wall of the inlet capillary. The heater may be implemented as an electrical heater that circumscribes the outer wall of the inlet capillary, the temperature of the heater being adjustable. 
   In still another implementation of the present invention, the mass spectrometry system further includes a secondary capillary fluidically connected to the inlet capillary for providing a secondary gas to the sampled gas. In this regard, a mixing device may be provided upstream of the catalyzed region that mixes the secondary gas provided through the secondary capillary with the sampled gas in the inlet capillary. 
   In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method of analyzing a gas by mass spectrometry is provided, the method including providing a mass spectrometer adapted to analyze a plurality of components of the gas, providing an inlet capillary with an inner bore that has a bore wall, coating the bore wall with a catalytic coating, conveying a sample of the gas to the mass spectrometer through the inner bore of the inlet capillary, and reacting at least one component of the sampled gas with the catalytic coating to convert it to another gas species as the gas is conveyed. In one embodiment, the method further includes analyzing the gas species to derive information associated with the converted gas component. The method may further include heating the catalytic coating as the gas is conveyed through the inlet capillary. In this regard, the method may also include adjusting the temperature of the catalytic coating. In accordance with another embodiment, coating of the bore wall with the catalytic coating is attained using a chemical vapor deposition process that includes heating of at least a segment of the inlet capillary, or a deposition-precipitation process. The chemical vapor deposition process may further include conveying a gaseous precursor through the inlet capillary, and decomposing the precursor. 
   Yet another aspect of the present invention is a method of analyzing exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine that has carbon monoxide and nitrogen gas components using mass spectrometry. In one embodiment, the method includes providing an inlet capillary with an inner bore that has a bore wall, depositing a catalytic coating having at least one of palladium and platinum on the bore wall by chemical vapor deposition process, conveying a sample of the gas through the inner bore of the inlet capillary, reacting the carbon monoxide component of the sampled gas with the catalytic coating to convert the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide as the sampled gas is conveyed through the inlet capillary, analyzing the carbon dioxide that is converted from the carbon monoxide by mass spectrometry, and deriving information regarding the carbon monoxide based on analysis of the carbon dioxide that is converted from the carbon monoxide. 
   These and other advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention when viewed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic illustration of a mass spectrometry system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIG. 2  is an enlarged schematic cross-sectional illustration of the inlet capillary of the mass spectrometry system shown in  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 3  shows a graph illustrating the concentration of CO 2  measured relative to the concentration of CO in the analyzed gas, thus illustrating the oxidation of CO to CO 2 . 
       FIG. 4  shows a graph illustrating the concentration of CO 2  measured relative to the concentration of C 3 H 6  in the analyzed gas, thereby illustrating the oxidation of C 3 H 6  to CO 2 . 
       FIG. 5  shows a graph illustrating the concentration of CO 2  measured relative to the concentration of CO and three times the concentration of C 3 H 6  in the analyzed gas, thereby illustrating the combined oxidation of CO and C 3 H 6  to CO 2 . 
       FIG. 6  is a schematic illustration of a mass spectrometry system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   As described in detail herein below, the present invention provides a mass spectrometry system and method for analyzing components of a gas that overcomes the limitations of conventional mass spectrometry systems and methods. In particular, the mass spectrometry system and method of the present invention allows the analysis and measurement of gas components which otherwise, may not be easily measured due to interference by other components of the gas. The mass spectrometry system and method of the present invention further allows analysis and measurement of various gas components that possess similar fragmentation patterns from one another. Example embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below as applied to analysis of exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine as the present invention can be advantageously used in such applications. However, it should be recognized that the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be used for analysis of any gas. 
     FIG. 1  is a schematic illustration of a mass spectrometry system  10  in accordance with one example embodiment of the present invention. The mass spectrometry system  10  includes a mass spectrometer  12 , and an inlet capillary  14  that is adapted to convey a small amount of gas to be analyzed to the mass spectrometer  12 . In this regard, one end of the inlet capillary  14  is connected to the mass spectrometer  12 , while another end of the inlet capillary  14  is connected to a source of a gas to be analyzed, for example, exhaust gas stream  4  from an internal combustion engine (not shown). The inlet capillary  14  may be connected to a sampling port  5  of the exhaust piping  3  shown that conveys the exhaust gas stream  4  therein. The inlet capillary  14  also includes a catalyzed region  15  through which the sampled gas is passed as described in further detail below. 
     FIG. 2  shows an enlarged schematic, cross-sectional illustration of the catalyzed region  15  of the inlet capillary  14 . As shown, the inlet capillary  14  includes an inner bore  16  with a bore wall  18 . The inner bore  16  of the inlet capillary  14  is sized to allow conveyance of the sampled exhaust gas stream  4  to the mass spectrometer  12 . In the illustrated embodiment, the diameter of the inner bore  16  is approximately 50 micrometers, and the total diameter of the inlet capillary  14  is approximately 180 micrometers. Thus, the bore wall  18  has a thickness of approximately 65 micrometers. The length of the inlet capillary  14  in the illustrated embodiment is approximately one meter long. Of course, it should be appreciated that the described geometry of the inlet capillary  14  is merely one example implementation, and the inlet capillary  14  may be dimensioned differently in accordance with the needs of the application of the mass spectrometry system  10 . 
   The mass spectrometry system  10  in accordance with the illustrated embodiment is also implemented with a catalytic coating  20  on the bore wall  18  along at least a portion of the inlet capillary  14  that defines a catalyzed region  15 . It should be evident that whereas in the illustrated embodiment, only a portion of the inlet capillary  14  is provided with the catalytic coating  20 , the catalytic coating  20  may be provided in multiple different regions along the length of the bore wall  18 , or even along the full length of the inlet capillary  14  in other embodiments. The catalytic coating  20  converts at least one component of the sampled gas into another gas species so that this converted gas species can be measured and analyzed to derive information regarding the component of gas that was converted. 
   In addition, the mass spectrometry system  10  of the illustrated embodiment includes a heater  22  that is positioned on the outer wall  24  of the inlet capillary  14 . The heater  22  heats the catalytic coating  20  when in operation, to improve the efficacy of the catalytic coating  20  in converting the component of the sampled gas. In the present embodiment, the heater  22  circumscribes the inlet capillary  14 , and is implemented in any appropriate manner, for example, as an electrical heater. In addition, the temperature of the heater  22  may be adjustable so that depending on the desired catalytic activity, the catalytic coating, and/or the sampled gas, the temperature of the heater  22  can be appropriately adjusted to attain the desired result. However, in other embodiments, the heater  22  may be implemented in a different manner, or not be provided at all if the catalytic coating  20  is effective in converting the desired component of the sampled gas into the desired gas species. 
   The catalytic coating  20  provided in the inlet capillary  14  of the mass spectrometry system  10  in accordance with the present invention converts at least one component of the gas to be analyzed into another gas species. This allows the mass spectrometry system  10  to measure, analyze the converted gas species, and derive information regarding the converted component of gas from the analysis. Thus, the present invention overcomes the difficulties caused by ions or fragments of different gas components interfering with measurements of each other, or difficulties associated with measuring and analyzing gas components that possess similar fragmentation patterns. 
   The catalytic coating  20  in accordance with one embodiment may include palladium (Pd) that oxidizes various gas components with O 2 , for example, oxidizes CO to convert it into CO 2 . In such an embodiment, the inlet capillary  14  converts CO to CO 2  prior to the gas sample being conveyed to the mass spectrometer  12 . The mass spectrometer  12  derives information regarding the CO component by measuring and analyzing CO 2  that was converted from CO. Unlike CO, CO 2  appears at a mass-to-charge ratio (m/e) that is different than nitrogen (N) so that the mass spectrometer  12  can accurately measure and analyze information regarding CO 2  to derive information regarding CO. In this manner, the mass spectrometry system  10  can readily measure and analyze CO even in the presence of nitrogen (N), by measuring and analyzing the CO 2 . 
   Baseline CO 2  amounts in the exhaust gas stream  4  can be measured so that the amount of CO 2  that has been converted from CO can be accurately determined. In particular, in order to obtain accurate measurement of the amount of CO 2  that has been converted from CO, the initial amount of CO 2  in the exhaust gas stream  4  should be measured, and subtracted from the amount of CO 2  measured in the inlet capillary  14  by the mass spectrometer  12  (after CO is converted to CO 2 ). The determined amount of CO 2  can then be used to derive information such as the amount of CO. 
   Referring again to  FIG. 2 , one method of providing the catalytic coating  20  on the bore wall  18  of the inlet capillary  14  is described in detail herein. The catalyzed inlet capillary  14  may be prepared using a chemical vapor deposition process (CVD). In particular, in accordance with one method, palladium acetylacetonate which is a catalytic precursor, is contained in a gas chromatograph sample vial that is equipped with a septum. The inlet capillary  14  is inserted into the vial through the septum. The vial is placed into a gas chromatograph oven, and the inlet capillary  14  is fed out of the oven, and into the heater  22  which heats a portion of the inlet capillary  14 , for example, about 25 centimeter portion of the inlet capillary  14 . The remaining end of the capillary is attached to the inlet of a mass spectrometer  12  such as those available from Agilent Technologies (www.agilent.com). The gas chromatograph oven is heated to approximately 110° C. to volatilize the catalytic precursor which is then, conveyed through the inlet capillary  14 , for example, by applying a vacuum at the end of the inlet capillary  14  that is connected to the mass spectrometer  12 . 
   As the catalytic precursor is conveyed through the inlet capillary  14 , the heater  22  positioned on a segment of the inlet capillary  14 , is heated to approximately 200° C.. Due to the heat, the catalytic precursor decomposes to yield palladium that deposits on the surrounding bore wall  18  to form the catalytic coating  20 . The gas conveyed to the mass spectrometer  12  may be analyzed using the mass spectrometer  12  to provide confirmation of the desired decomposition of the catalytic precursor. In this regard, the mass spectrometer data obtained during preparation of the inlet capillary  14  in accordance with the described method indicated fragments typical of acetylacetone which is consistent with decomposition of the palladium acetylacetonate. This indicates that palladium was deposited on the bore wall  18  of the inlet capillary  14 . Of course, other appropriate methods for providing a catalytic coating  20  may be utilized, and the described method is provided merely as one example. 
   Performance of the inlet capillary  14  that was manufactured in the above described manner was tested by inserting an end of the inlet capillary  14  into a manifold of a micro-reaction system, and flowing various gas mixtures including CO and C 3 H 6 , therethrough. During this testing, the catalyzed portion of the capillary was heated using heater  22 , to enhance the oxidation process of CO and C 3 H 6 . 
     FIG. 3  shows a graph illustrating the oxidation of CO to CO 2  as measured using a mass spectrometry system  10  in accordance with the present invention. The catalyst was palladium and the catalyzed region  15  of the inlet capillary  14  was heated to 280° C.. The synthetic gas mixture also contained 10% O 2  as an inert gas. As noted, concentration of CO in the exhaust gas can not be readily measured by the conventional mass spectrometry systems while also measuring N 2  because the molecular weight of CO is very close to N 2  (28.0104 a.m.u. and 28.0134 a.m.u., respectively). While passing through the catalyzed capillary  15  of the present invention into the mass spectrometer  12 , CO was oxidized and the amount of CO 2  produced was measured. As clearly shown by the plotted line  30  in  FIG. 3 , the amount of produced CO 2  quantitatively matched the amount of introduced CO, the concentration of CO in the synthetic gas mixture increasing from 0.125% to 1.25%. The slope of the plotted line  30  is very close to unity at 0.9778, having an intercept close to zero, and very high R 2  value. The slope of near unity implies that across all concentrations, the conversion of CO to CO 2  was close to 98%. Thus, CO is significantly oxidized and converted to CO 2  so that information regarding CO in the analyzed gas can be derived. In this manner, the mass spectrometry system  10  of the present invention can be used to readily determine information regarding CO, even in the presence of nitrogen. 
   Of course, the mass spectrometry system  10  may be used to analyze other compositions as well. For example, the mass spectrometry system  10  may be used in the analysis of hydrocarbons. More specifically, in the electron-impact-ionization mass spectrometers, hydrocarbon ionization produces a broad range of fragments, which makes their quantification very difficult. Thus, in accordance with the present invention, hydrocarbons can be oxidized in the catalyzed region  15  of the inlet capillary  14  in a manner similar to that described above, to yield CO 2 . 
     FIG. 4  shows oxidation of C 3 H 6  in the catalyzed region  15  of the inlet capillary  14 . The catalytic coating  20  is palladium and the catalyzed region  15  of the inlet capillary  14  was heated to 280° C.. The synthetic gas mixture also contained 10% O 2  as the inert gas. As shown, the slope of the plotted line  35  of  FIG. 4  is close to the expected value of three, since oxidation of one molecule of C 3 H 6  produces three molecules of CO 2 . 
   The mass spectrometry system  10  of the present invention may also be utilized to analyze and measure the total amount of carbonaceous reductants in the gas stream, including hydrocarbons and CO.  FIG. 5  shows the combined oxidation of CO and C 3 H 6  in the catalyzed region  15  of the inlet capillary  14 . The catalyst was palladium and the catalyzed region  15  of the inlet capillary  14  was heated to 280° C., the synthetic gas mixture also having 10% O 2  as inert gas. In particular, line  40  of  FIG. 5  shows the relationship of the test data for individual analysis of CO (circles), C 3 H 6  (squares), and the mixture of the two (triangle). As can be seen, the quantitative conversion was maintained for all cases. 
   As previously mentioned, the above described analysis utilizing the mass spectrometry system  10  of the present invention can be performed even when there is CO 2  present in the original analyzed gas stream. In such an instance, the measurement for the gas component of interest is calculated by measuring the amount of CO 2  in the un-catalyzed sampled gas, and subtracting the results from the results obtained using the catalyzed capillary. For example, the mass spectrometry system  10  may be provided with a valve that allows diverting of a sample of the gas stream into an additional capillary that provides the un-catalyzed sample gas stream to the mass spectrometer  12  so that a base line CO 2  measurement can be made. 
   The present invention described above can be modified in any appropriate manner to allow analysis of various gases known to be difficult to measure. For example, the hydrocarbon methane cannot be measured directly using conventional spectrometer systems because methane has a molecular mass of 17 a.m.u. which interferes with major fragments of H 2 O ionization. In addition, methane is very resistant to oxidation, and may not be readily analyzed using the above described mass spectrometry system  10  unless modification is made to the described embodiment. Modifications to the described embodiment of the mass spectrometry system  10  may include increasing the temperature to which the catalyzed region  15  is heated, increasing the loading of the catalyst, increasing the length of the catalyzed region  15 , and/or providing multiple catalyzed regions. 
   In the above described manner, information regarding variety of different species of exhaust gas components can be determined such as quantity/amount. For instance, the above described mass spectrometry system  10  and method may be used to obtain information NH 3  having a mass of 17 a.m.u. which interferes with one of the fragments of H 2 O. The NH 3  can be oxidized to NO which has a mass of 30 a.m.u. In another example, H 2 S having a mass of 34 a.m.u. which interferes with the O 16 O 18  isotope of oxygen, can be oxidized to SO 2  so that desired information can be derived. The mass spectrometry system  10  can be utilized to attain nearly 100% conversion of H 2 S to SO 2  using a Pt-catalyzed inlet capillary which is heated to about 275° C. at the catalyzed region. At higher temperature, around 310° C., SO 2  gets further oxidized to SO 3 . 
     FIG. 6  shows a schematic illustration of a mass spectrometry system  50  in accordance with another example embodiment of the present invention that is substantially similar to that shown in  FIG. 1 . Thus, the mass spectrometry system  50  includes a mass spectrometer  52 , and an inlet capillary  54  that connects the mass spectrometer  52  to an exhaust piping  3  via sampling port  5  to sample the exhaust gas stream  4 . The inlet capillary  54  includes a catalyzed region  55  through which the sampled gas is passed, heater  62  being provided in the catalyzed region  55 . In addition, the mass spectrometry system  50  of the illustrated embodiment includes a secondary capillary  60  and a mixing device  64 , which in the present embodiment, is implemented as a nano-mixer positioned upstream of the catalyzed region  55 . In this embodiment, the sampled gas to be analyzed is mixed with a secondary gas, for example (but not limited to) ambient air, using the mixing device  64 . The gas stream delivered through the sampling capillary  54  is mixed with the secondary gas stream from the capillary  60  prior to contacting a catalyzed region  55  of the inlet capillary  54 . 
   The described embodiment of  FIG. 6  may be utilized when catalytic conversion for the analyzed component of the exhaust gas requires additional species that is absent (or present in insufficient amount) in the analyzed gas itself. For example, during regeneration of NOx adsorber catalysts, it is important to measure the total “reducing potential” of the net rich gas mixture, such mixtures often containing a mixture of hydrocarbons, CO, H 2 , and possibly some small amounts of oxygen. However, the commercially available lambda sensors cannot accurately measure lambda under such net rich conditions because they have very different responses to H 2 , CO, and various hydrocarbons. In such instances, the described embodiment of  FIG. 6  may be utilized to measure the true lambda. In particular, the secondary capillary  60  is used to provide a constant flow of ambient air or other gas so that after mixing with the sampled gas from the inlet capillary  54 , the stoichiometry of the mixed gas is net lean instead of net rich. Then, the true lambda can be measured by the mass spectrometry system  10  of the present invention as reduction in the oxygen concentration due to oxidation of various reductants molecules. 
   As described above, the catalytic coating  20  in the catalyzed portion  15  of the inlet capillary  14  can be provided using gas-phase methods such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or similar techniques. In other embodiments, the catalytic coating  20  may be provided using liquid-chemistry methods, such as deposition-precipitation, etc. Platinum (Pt) and palladium (Pd) catalytic coatings have been deposited in the inlet capillary  14  using the CVD technique, and have been found to be effective in facilitating analysis of exhaust gas stream from an internal combustion engine. 
   In providing the catalytic coating of Pt or Pd, the volatile organometallic compounds such as acetylacetonates of Pt or Pd, respectively, were used as precursors for CVD. Of course, other catalytic coatings may be utilized, depending on the application, including other noble metals (such as Rh, etc.) or base metal compounds such as Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, CeO 2 , TiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , etc., or combinations thereof. If the catalytic coating is provided using CVD techniques, these catalysts can be introduced using either the volatile organometallic compounds, or other volatile compounds such as carbonyls, chlorides, etc. Moreover, the temperature and loading of the catalyst, as well as the number of catalyzed regions, may be varied in accordance with various implementations of the present invention depending on the desired results. 
   In view of the above, it should also be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention also provides a method of analyzing a gas by mass spectrometry. The method includes providing a mass spectrometer adapted to analyze a plurality of components of the gas, providing an inlet capillary with an inner bore that has a bore wall, coating at least a portion of the bore wall with a catalytic coating, conveying the gas to the mass spectrometer through the inner bore of the inlet capillary, and reacting at least one component of the gas with the catalytic coating to convert it to another gas species as the gas is conveyed. As evident from the discussions above, the method in accordance with one embodiment further includes analyzing the gas species to derive information associated with the converted component including, for example, detection or quantification of the converted component. The method may further include heating the catalytic coating as the gas is conveyed through the inlet capillary. 
   In accordance with another embodiment, coating of the bore wall with the catalytic coating may be attained using a chemical vapor deposition process which may include heating at least a segment of the inlet capillary. The chemical vapor deposition process may further include conveying a gaseous precursor through the inlet capillary, and decomposing the precursor. 
   Therefore, in view of the above, it should be evident to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention provides a mass spectrometry system having an inlet capillary with a catalytic coating thereon, that allows use of mass spectrometers and mass spectrometry techniques for detection and quantification of gas components which was previously not possible due to ions or fragments of gas components interfering with ions or fragments of other components, or due to similar fragmentation patterns of gas components such as for hydrocarbons that prevent accurate attribution. 
   While various embodiments in accordance with the present invention have been shown and described, it is understood that the invention is not limited thereto. The present invention may be changed, modified and further applied by those skilled in the art. Therefore, this invention is not limited to the detail shown and described previously, but also includes all such changes and modifications.