Hydrocarbon Group-Type Analysis of Petroleum-Derived and Synthetic Fuels Using Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography

A group-type analysis of hydrocarbons in a complex jet fuel may be more useful than attempting to analyze every component because the latter inevitably leaves a large portion of the fuel unidentified. While it may be difficult to accurately determine the identity of a particular compound, that compound can often be classified as belonging to a group or compound class because of its chromatographic retention and mass spectral properties. Compound class quantitation is often capable of relating compositional information to fuel properties. Two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC) is a technique capable of providing this group-type separation and quantitation in jet fuels. This technique was used to examine a large set of fuels (Jet A, Jet A-1, JP-5, and JP-8, primarily) from petroleum sources and non-petroleum alternative sources, such as synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK). By comparing results from GC × GC analysis to established techniques and model compound studies, we have found that the accuracy of GC × GC for group-type analysis is excellent. Quantitation of group types for alternative fuel sources were also investigated and compared to conventional techniques. The possible uses and applications of group-type measurements using GC × GC for fuels and fuel-related materials are discussed.