Group Type Analysis of Jet and Diesel Fuels with the GCxGC Technique

Recent developments in comprehensive (GCxGC) gas chromatography now allow for obtaining highly detailed compositional information on complex mid-boiling refinery streams such as biodiesels and Jet fuels for routine analysis. The first GCxGC systems developed mainly relied on the rather cumbersome cryogenic modulation, which is effective but has a high cost of ownership due to the large consumption of either liquid CO2 or liquid Nitrogen. This cryogenic modulation is maintenance prone, requires additional lab space and can be problematic for relatively volatile components, which are often seen to break through the cryogenic trapping system. Flow modulation comprehensive GC provides a more robust kind of modulation that hardly requires maintenance and experiences no problems in the modulation of low boiling components.

AC Analytical Controls by PAC developed an easy to use dedicated GCxGC solution that provides complete group-type analysis for jet fuel and diesel type streams, including biodiesels like B5, B7 and B10 products. This is the first true turnkey solution to characterise fuels beyond the gasoline range, as described by UOP 990-11.

The solution is robust enough to be run in a routine environment for comparing or qualifying Diesel and Jet fuel products, but also provides the detailed information required for research. This new solution reports detailed results on:

• Normal- and isoparaffins;
• Aromatics;
• Naphtenes; and
• Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAMEs).

You can read more in depth on these two GCxGC applications by clicking the links below to read the application notes:

• Group-Type Analysis (PiPNA) in Diesel and Jet Fuel by Flow Modulated GCxGC FID
• FAME analysis in Diesel by Flow Modulated GCxGC FID.