Patent ID: 7645611

Claim:
A method of using a device for sampling and extracting components of interest from fluid, the device having an elongated micro cartridge containing a sorbent and having passages therein, to permit access between said fluid and said sorbent, wherein there is a housing into which said micro cartridge can be removably placed, said housing having an opening therein corresponding to a passage in said cartridge, said opening having a removable seal and a substantially small diameter compared to a length of said opening, said micro cartridge being sized and shaped to fit into an injection port of an analysis instrument where the components of interest can be desorbed, said method comprising exposing the micro cartridge and sorbent to a fluid, inserting said cartridge into an injection port of the suitable analysis instrument and desorbing the components of interest from said cartridge, said method further including the steps of placing the cartridge in said housing, sealing said housing and sealing said opening with a plug, removing said plug immediately before sampling, carrying out sampling by diffusion while said cartridge is in said housing, replacing said plug in said opening when sampling has been completed, transporting the housing and cartridge to the analysis instrument, removing the cartridge from the housing, placing the cartridge into an injection port of the analysis instrument and carrying out desorption; and wherein the injection port has a liner and desorption is carried out directly from said cartridge to said liner, said liner containing a restriction sealing said cartridge during desorption to prevent desorption fluid from entering said cartridge through the passage used for sampling and permit desorption fluid to enter said cartridge through another passage in said cartridge so that desorption fluid flows through the sorbent and then out through the passage used for sampling.