Proper Tuning of Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography (GC×GC) to Optimize the Separation of Complex Oil Fractions

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) is an utterly suitable separation technique for the analysis of complex samples, such as oil fractions. Once the two columns and the operating conditions are properly tuned, the technique is able to provide a detailed characterization of such materials. Some considerations applying to the tuning of a GC×GC system for a specific separation are presented and discussed. The authors present a number of different column sets and conditions which allow the separation of a non-aromatic hydrocarbon solvent, a kerosene, the light end of a crude oil, and an olefinic fraction, respectively. The highly structured GC×GC chromatograms, together with chemical knowledge about the samples, provide a much more comprehensive characterization of the samples than hitherto possible.