Whole Oil/Extract Gas Chromatography

Procedure Title: Whole Oil/Extract Gas Chromatography (GC)

Instrumentation:

1

Agilent 6890 N GC System / Agilent 7683 B Series Injector

1

Hewlett Packard (HP) 6890 Series GC System/ HP 6890 Series Injector

TurnAround Time to sample count

1-10

1 Week

11-20

2 Weeks

21-30

3 Weeks

Theory of Operation:

• Quantitative and qualitative analyses are performed on crude oils and extracts by injecting microliter volumes of the whole oil or extract into a split/splitless injector of a gas chromatograph (GC). A capillary column is used to provide separation of the hydrocarbon compounds in the n-C4 to n-C42 carbon range for detection by a flame ionization detector (FID).

• Whole oil gas chromatography is the first step in characterizing the unique fingerprint of an oil. Potential followup analyses include medium-pressure liquid chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, isotope analysis of liquids, and more.

Analytical Procedure For Oils:

Place an insert into a 2 ml autosampler vial.
Weigh the oil.
Add internal standard (trans-2-heptane).
Mix thoroughly.
Select the appropriate GC method.
Inject the oil into the GC.

Analytical Procedure For Extracts:

Get a 2 ml autosampler vial.
Transfer the extract (either from the collection tube if the sample was extracted by Dionex or from the flask if the sample was extracted by Soxhlet extractor)
Select the appropriate GC method.
Inject the extract into the GC.