Fast gas chromatographic separation of biodiesel

Abstract

A high-speed gas chromatographic method has been developed to determine the FAME distribution of B100 biodiesel. The capillary column used in this work has dimensions of 20 m × 0.100 mm and is coated with a polyethylene glycol film. Analysis times are typically on the order of 4-5 min depending upon the composition of the B100. The application of this method to a variety of vegetable and animal derived B100 is demonstrated. Quantitative results obtained with this method were in close agreement with those obtained by a more conventional approach on a 100 m column. The method, coupled with solid-phase extraction, was also found suitable to determine the B100 content of biodiesel-diesel blends.