Measurement of olefins in gasoline

Selerity Technologies has demonstrated that its Series 3000 SCF Supercritical Fluid Chromatograph is the preferred method to obtain a class type separation for the determination of olefins in gasoline

Selerity uses supercritical fluid chromatography to benefit the environment.

Temperature Programmed Liquid Chromatography (TPLC) and Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) specialist, Selerity Technologies has demonstrated that its Series 3000 SFC is the preferred method to obtain a class type separation for the determination of olefins in gasoline.

Gasoline is principally composed of three major hydrocarbon group-types: saturates, aromatics and olefins.

The latter are formed during vehicle combustion of fuel and during refinery processing and are thus one of the major contributors to the environmental issues faced by some of the American Southern States.

Since SFC has become an official ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) Method (ASTM D6550), the California Air Resources Board (CARB) mandated as of January 1, 2002 that all gasolines being sold or refined in the State of California should be analysed by ASTM D6550 to determine their olefin content.

Selerity analyses of olefins in gasoline show that the results obtained from the Series 3000 are well within the accepted tolerances of ASTM D6550.

The Series 3000 provides unsurpassed reproducibility and an economical and accurate alternative to the traditional methods for olefin determination (fluorescence indicator adsorption, GC and GC/MS), which are littered with shortcomings.

Further details about these experiments and their accompanying results are available in an application note (number 301) developed by Selerity.

Selerity Series 3000 instrumentation addresses the limitations of gas and liquid chromatography to separate compounds prone to thermal instability, and subject to other causes of ineffective separations, including a lack of chromophores.

The success of the Series 3000 has led Selerity to develop the Series 4000 to take productivity and efficiency to new levels.

The Series 4000 consists of a high capacity force air oven with a flame ionisation detector for rapid heating and cooling; a 10ml syringe pump for pulse-free mobile phase delivery and minimal usage of carbon dioxide; an autosampler, and the system is fully automated through a data acquisition software package.

Back to top