Gasoline Components
Gasoline is largely a mixture of hydrocarbons, although some may contain significant quantities of ethanol and some may contain small quantities of additives such as tertiarybutylmethyl ether as ‘anti-knock’ agents to increase the octane rating. The hydrocarbons consist of a mixture of n-paraffins, naphthenes, olefins and aromatics. Naphthenes, olefins and aromatics increase the octane rating of the gasoline whereas the n-paraffins have the opposite effect. The aromatics consist mostly of a mixture of benzene, toluene and the xylenes. The benzene content is kept to a minimum (but is not negligible) due to its perceived toxicity. Originally lead tetraethyl was added as an anti-knock agent but is now rarely used and is prohibited in most countries due to its toxicity. Gasoline is usually analyzed by gas chromatography using a capillary column coated with a suitable dispersive stationary phase and is temperature programmed. The composition of a gasoline can vary significantly depending on the source of the crude oil, the method employed for processing and its intended use.
Author: RPW Scott
Book:Gas Chromatography
Section:YES Applications Gasoline
area is in pollution studies, forensic work and general trace
analysis.
Gasoline
Gasoline is a
multicomponent mixture containing a large number of hydrocarbons, many of which
have very similar molecular weights and all are almost exclusively dispersive
in interactive character. The structure of many of the hydrocarbons are also
very similar and there are many isomers present. As a consequence, due to their
interactive similarity the separation factors between individual components is
very small.
It follows that columns of very high efficiency will be mandatory
to achieve an effective separation. It is clear that open tubular columns are
ideal for this type of separation problem. In fact, it would be impossible to
separate the components of gasoline efficiently with a packed column, even one
that is 50 ft long, and even if the inherent long analysis times could be
tolerated. In addition this type of separation demands the maximum number of
YES Applications Gasoline
Author: RPW Scott
Book:Capillary Chromatography
Section:Capillary Applications Gasoline
the necessary selectivity to resolve it from the other, slightly more excluded, enantiomer.
The Analysis of Gasoline
Gasoline is a multi-component hydrocarbon mixture of which many of the components have very similar molecular weights and all have interactive properties that are almost exclusively dispersive (with the exception of the aromatic hydrocarbons that can interact by induced dipoles if the stationary phase is strongly polar). The structure of many of the hydrocarbons components are also very similar and the mixture contains many isomers. It follows that the separation factors between individual components are likely to be very small and, consequently, to achieve a separation, columns of very high efficiency will be essential.
Open tubular columns are ideal for this type of separation and, in fact, it is impossible to separate gasoline efficiently with a packed column, (and that will be true even if the column is 50 ft long and the inherent long
Capillary Applications Gasoline
Author: RPW Scott
Book:Capillary Chromatography
Section:Capillary Applications Gasoline
nbsp;
As with all small radius open tubular columns a split injection system must be used. In addition, the relatively wide boiling range of the gasoline will require a temperature program that will heat the column to 200oC or more and thus the stationary phase must be thermally stable. The components of the gasoline are present over a wide concentration range and thus, for accurate quantitative results, the linear dynamic range of the detector must also be large. These latter requisites mandates the use of an FID.
A separation of gasoline components is shown in figure 30. The stationary phase used was Petrocol which is the trade
Capillary Applications Gasoline
Author: RPW Scott
Book:The Mechanism of Chromatographic Retention
Section:Retention Chromatographic-Interactions Polar
will be predominantly polar and in LC the eluting mobile phase would-be made
dispersive (cf. normal phase chromatography).
An example of
dispersive and polar interactions is afforded by the separation of the gasoline
sample on both a highly dispersive stationary phase, and a strongly polar
stationary phase. The separations are shown in figure 2. GC gives a clear
indication of the retentive character of the stationary phase as there are no
significant interactions in the mobile phase. Gasoline has a relatively high
proportion of aliphatic hydrocarbons which can only interact dispersively with
any stationary phase. However, it has also a significant number of different
aromatic hydrocarbons present which, as already has been discussed (book 1),
can be polarized and consequently interact with a polar stationary phase. Thus
if a sample of gasoline is chromatographed on a strongly dispersive stationary
phase the components would be separated roughly on a basis of molar volume.
Retention Chromatographic-Interactions Polar
Author: RPW Scott
Book:Principles and Practice of Chromatography
Section:Principles Applications Gas-Chromatography Gasoline
730;C for 5 min. to ensure the complete elution of the higher boiling
components.
An excellent
separation is obtained giving clearly separated peaks for the marker compounds
which are of importance in fuel evaluation. Nevertheless, due to the complexity
of the sample, exceedingly high efficiencies were necessary and so, the
analysis time was about 100 min. Long analysis times are directly related to
the use of long columns The complete analysis was carried out using only 0.1 ml of gasoline with a split of 100:1 at
250˚C (ca 1 mg) confirming
the remarkable sensitivity of the FID for general analysis
Principles Applications Gas-Chromatography Gasoline
Author: RPW Scott
Book:Gas Chromatography
Section:YES Applications Free-Fatty-Acids-from-Milk
The separation
of the gasoline components is shown in figure 41. The stationary phase used was
Petrocol (the trade name for a special poly(dimethysiloxane)) that is actually
intra-column polymerized and thus bonded to the surface and, as a result, is
very thermally stable. The alkane chains
in the polymer contribute strong dispersive properties to the
stationary phase. The necessary high efficiency was obtained by using a column,
100 m long, 250 mm I.D. carrying a film
of stationary phase 0.5 mm thick. The
YES Applications Free-Fatty-Acids-from-Milk