Hydrocarbon-Type Analysis of Base Oils and Other...

Published: Journal of Chromatographic Science, Volume 34, Number 5, May 1996, pp. 219-225.

Hydrocarbon-Type Analysis of Base Oils and Other Heavy Distillates by Thin-Layer Chromatography with Flame-Ionization Detection and by the Clay–Gel Method
Bhajendra N. Barman

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) using quartz rods coated with sintered silica particles and flame-ionization detection (FID) is applied for the rapid determination of saturates, aromatics, and polar compounds in petroleum heavy distillates. A procedure is described by which hydrocarbon classes are baseline separated, and quantitative results are obtained by the measurement of peak areas. As different hydrocarbon groups are fully resolved from each other and replicate analysis can be carried out rapidly, accurate determination of hydrocarbon types is possible by the TLC–FID technique. TLC–FID results are compared with those obtained by the ASTM D2007 method, the latter being based on gravimetric determination of separated components by open-column clay–gel chromatography. It is found that the ASTM method does not always yield pure fractions of each hydrocarbon type, and cross-contamination introduces considerable inaccuracies in the results. Besides superior hydrocarbon type results, TLC–FID is shown to offer several operational advantages such as short analysis time, small sample requirement, simultaneous analysis of multiple samples, less solvent consumption, and reusable sorbent.

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