Evaluation of a New Chromatographic Method for Aromatics in Diesel Fuels

A new analytical method using supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) with flame ionization detection (FID) was evaluated for the determination of the aromatics in diesel fuels. The method utilizes high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a packed silica column and supercritical CO₂ as the carrier fluid. Performance evaluation was carried out using diesel fuels and secondary standards with a wide range of chemical composition. The aromatic content in the fuels was verified by the fluorescent indicator adsorption (FIA) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) methods. With the exception of initial moderate cost of the instrument, the method is simple, fast (less than 20 minutes per sample) and applicable to coloured samples and samples with final boiling points of about 450°C. Aromatic concentrations in diesel? showed good correlation with FIA data. It is well suited to petroleum refinery applications as an alternate for standard FIA method.