Identification of Polar Species in Aviation Fuels using Multidimensional Gas Chromatography-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry

• Published in: Energy & fuels Vol. 23; no. 11; pp. 5474 - 5482
• Main Authors: Striebich, Richard C, Contreras, Jesse, Balster, Lori M, West, Zachary, Shafer, Linda M, Zabarnick, Steven
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 19-11-2009
• Subjects: Fossil Fuels
• ISSN: 0887-0624; 1520-5029
• DOI: 10.1021/ef900386x

Aviation fuel is so complex that it is virtually impossible to separate all of the major components of the mixture, much less the minor components. The minor components are typically separated from the major components using preparative techniques (such as solid phase extractionSPE) and then re-examined by gas chromatography−mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Without SPE, GC-MS is not capable of a comprehensive determination of the trace polar components in jet fuel due to fuel complexity. In this contribution, jet fuel mixtures are preseparated by normal-phase SPE, followed by a single analysis using multidimensional gas chromatography-time of flight mass spectrometry (MDGC-TOFMS), which is similar to the recently popularized technique of GC×GC. This two-column sequential analysis followed by TOFMS identifications is able to accurately identify more of the polar components of jet fuel. Automated data analysis routines, based on improved mass spectral library identifications (due to the better chromatographic separations), are able to determine individual components in the polar fractions that are of interest. Spreadsheet-based sorting of the highest quality identifications was also performed and used to quantify important polar fuel classes such as amines, indoles, pyridines, anilines, sulfur compounds, oxygenates, aromatics, and others. The relative amounts of each group were determined and related to similar measurements found in the literature. The ability to identify and quantify polar components in fuel may be useful in developing relationships between fuel composition and properties such as thermal stability.