COMPUTER-AIDED HEADSPACE GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY APPLIED TO BLOOD-ALCOHOL ANALYSIS: IMPORTANCE OF ONLINE PROCESS CONTROL

This paper describes the analysis of ethanol in blood specimens from suspect drunk drivers and the associated quality assurance procedures currently used in Sweden for legal purposes. Aliquots of whole blood from two separate Vacutainer (registered trademark) tubes are diluted with 1-propanol as internal standard before analysis by headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC) with three different stationary phases: Carbopak B, Carbopak C, and 15% Carbowax 20 M. The actual HS-GC analysis, the integration of chromatographic peaks, the collection and processing of results, as well as the quality control tests involve the use of computer-aided techniques. The standard deviation of analysis (y) increased with concentration of ethanol in the blood specimen (x), and above 0.05 mg/g the regression equation was y equals 0.0033 plus 0.0153x. The prosecution blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) is the mean of three separate determinations made by different laboratory technicians working independently with different sets of equipment. A deduction is made from the mean analytical result to compensate for random and systematic errors inherent in the method. At BACs of 0.5 and 1.5 mg/g, which are the statutory limits in Sweden, the allowances currently made are 0.06 and 0.09 mg/g, respectively. Accordingly, the reduced prosecution BAC is less than the actual BAC with a statistical confidence of 99.9%.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00221198
• Corporate Authors:

  American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)

  100 Barr Harbor Drive, P.O. Box C700
  West Conshohocken, PA  United States  19428-2957
• Authors:
  • Jones, A W
  • Schuberth, J
• Publication Date: 1989-9

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 1116-27
• Serial:
  • Journal of Forensic Sciences
  • Volume: 34
  • Issue Number: 5
  • Publisher: Blackwell Publishing
  • ISSN: 0022-1198
  • EISSN: 1556-4029
  • Serial URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1556-4029

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Blood alcohol levels; Drunk drivers; Drunk driving; Gas chromatography; Information processing; Laboratory tests; Quality control
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00608517
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-040 742
• Files: HSL, USDOT
• Created Date: May 31 1991 12:00AM