The LECO energy and fuels applications eBook is now available for download!

Fuels testing is an important analytical discipline to characterize the properties of petroleum fractions and products. Analysts can use different instrument configurations and methods.

The LECO eBook summarizes a large part of LECO’s application work in the field of fuels testing. In addition to the Application Compendium, the eBook includes an introduction to GCxGC- and TOFMS-technology, followed by an overview of the different hardware and software solutions that were used for the fuels testing applications. A bibliography with additional references can be found in the appendix.

The petroleum refinery process requires different analytical instruments and methods for controlling the processes and ensuring a high quality of the products. Petroleum fractions and products often contain a large number of components.

Gas chromatography is a powerful tool for the separation of such complex mixtures. The usage of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) offers enhanced chromatographic resolution by increased peak capacity. GC×GC also is able to separate structural classes of hydrocarbons into distinct bands of analytes. For less demanding questions, GC detectors (FID, PID, FPD) are still used for the identification part.

In recent years gas chromatography-mass spectrometry has established itself as the dominant technology for petroleum applications. Time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) greatly facilitates the characterization of petroleum samples by fast acquisition rates, broad mass analysis ranges and non-skewed mass spectra.

In petroleum products, sulfur and nitrogen-containing species are of particular interest due to emission problems during combustion. High-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry allows characterization of these compounds using a combination of elemental formula determinations and spectral library similarity searches. Spectral Analysis Tools also offers additional advanced data processing based on Kendrick Mass Defect Plots.

Highlighted Application Notes in this eBook are:

• Satisfying ASTM Method D5769: A Solution For Determination Of High-Concentration Aromatic Compounds In Finished Gasolines
• Battling Fuel-Washing: Detection Of Accutrace S10 In Commercial Diesel Samples
• Petroleum Forensics: Identifying Biomarkers In Crude Oil
• Classification Of Compounds In A Diesel Sample Using GC×GC-FID Analysis And Automated ChromaTOF Data Processing
• Exploration Of High-Temperature Petroleum Analysis Using Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography And Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry
• Analysis Of Light Crude Oil Using Gas Chromatography High-Resolution Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry
• Distinguishing The C3 Vs. SH4 Mass Split By GC×GC With High Resolution
• Detailed Chemical Characterisation Of Bunker Fuels By High-Resolution Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry Hyphenated To GC×GC And Thermal Analysis
• Changing The Paradigm In Petroleomics With Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry

For more information from LECO visit https://eu.leco.com/