Patent ID: 8621912

Claim:
A miniaturized gas analyzer formed onto a single micro-chip, wherein the gas analyzer comprises: an injector block comprising: a sample inlet path connected to a natural gas inlet source to receive composite gas; a reference path connected to a carrier-gas inlet source to receive carrier-gas, wherein the reference path includes a reference detector for reference of the carrier-gas; a carrier-gas path connecting the sample inlet path to the reference path; a sampling loop having an input and an output, wherein the input of the sampling loop is connected to the sample inlet path and the carrier-gas path; wherein the output expels the received composite gas carried by the carrier-gas as a gas sample; and a first column block and a second column block, wherein the first and second column blocks each comprise: a separation column having an input to receive the gas sample and for separating the gas sample into components; and a detector arranged to receive the components of the gas sample from an output of the separation column and to differentiate the components into resolved components and unresolved components; wherein the injector block and the first and second column blocks are arranged in series on an analytical path of the micro-chip such that the gas sample expelled by the output of the sampling loop is received within the first column block, wherein the output of the sampling loop is connected to the analytical path and a vent path, wherein a first branch path diverges from the sample inlet path and connects to the vent path to bypass the sampling loop, wherein the unresolved component is expelled by the first column block and received within the second column block.