High-performance Liquid Chromatography Separation

A h igh-per formance l i q u i d chromatography (HPLC) method has been deve loped f o r t h e s e p a r a t i o n of o l e f i n , s a t u r a t e , and a r o m a t i c hydrocarbons found i n h i g h b o i l i n g d i s t i l l a t e s and r e s i d u e s of s h a l e o i l and i n whole s h a l e o i l s . The dual-column chromatographic system uses s i l i c a g e l i n one column and s i l i c a g e l c o a t e d w i t h s i l v e r n i t r a t e i n a second column. Sepa ra t ed f r a c t i o n s a r e ana lyzed by i n f r a r e d and carbon-13 nuc lea r magnet ic resonance spec t romet ry t o demons t r a t e t h e v a l i d i t y o f t h e s e p a r a t i o n . The t ime r e q u i r e d f o r a s e p a r a t i o n i s a b o u t two hour s . The s e p a r a t i o n s a r e r e p r o d u c i b l e , and r ecove ry of m a t e r i a l a f t e r s e p a r a t i o n i s g e n e r a l l y b e t t e r t han 90 p e r c e n t . The o l e f i n , s a t u r a t e , and a r o m a t i c f r a c t i o n s ob ta ined from a s e p a r a t i o n a r e s u i t a b l e f o r f u r t h e r a n a l y s i s .