Two-dimensional gas chromatography analysis of components in fuel and fuel additives using a simplified heart-cutting GC system.

Multidimensional gas chromatography (MGC) using heart cutting is an old idea that can benefit from the performance of modern instruments and capillary columns to provide fast, reliable separation of target analytes from complex sample matrices. A simplified heart-cutting switch is described that uses these improvements to provide very narrow precise heart cuts between columns of different selectivity. This system is used to analyze ppm levels of 4,6-dimethydibenzothiophene in diesel fuel using a standard flame ionization detector instead of a complex sulfur-selective detector. MGC systems also offer the possibility of faster analysis speed by using two short columns of different selectivity instead of very long columns to resolve compounds from complex matrices. The analysis of alcohols in denatured fuel ethanol using the MGC system is performed over six times faster than the standard American Society for Testing and Materials methodology.