[Analysis of kerosene-based endothermic hydrocarbon fuel using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography...

Hydrocarbon fuels are mainly composed of n-alkenes, iso-alkanes, cycloalkanes (primarily single-and double-ring), alkylbenzenes, indans, tetralins, naphthalene, and alkylnaphthalenes. Different hydrocarbon classes impart different properties to a fuel. An identification method of hydrocarbon classes in kerosene-based endothermic hydrocarbon fuel was established using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC×GC-MS). Moreover, the corresponding quantitative determination was achieved using the effective carbon number correction factors of GC×GC-FID. The effects of the main chromatographic conditions such as the column system, program heating conditions, and modulation period on the separation of fuels were discussed. Nine hydrocarbon fuels were analyzed. The results showed that the contents of paraffin and cycloalkanes are consistent with the results obtained using the standard test method ASTM D2425. The relative error is within ±10%. The carbon content calculated using this method has an error of less than 0.5% compared with the elemental analysis method. This method does not require complicated pretreatment, and the sample can be injected directly after dilution. Compared with the traditional GC-MS, the operation is simple, and the differences among various samples can be observed intuitively, which helps in improving the performance of the fuel.