Analysis of biodiesel-diesel blends: Does ultrafast gas chromatography provide for similar separation in a fraction of the time?

Ultrafast gas chromatography (UFGC) using a moderately polar column was compared to traditional gas chromatography (GC) for evaluation of biodiesel-diesel blended fuels. Several biodiesel feedstocks (soybean, tallow, canola, palm, camelina) and concentrations (1-20%) were evaluated, with specific attention to the separation of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) from the biodiesel component. UFGC is compared to traditional GC using a similar column chemistry. Principal component analysis (PCA) is performed to identify clustering based on feedstock and concentration. UFGC proves an effective and fast technique, comparable to traditional GC, for the analysis of biodiesel-diesel blended fuels.