This article describes a method for analyzing the concentration of FAME and TG in biodiesel fuel using the Agilent 1200 Series HPLC system. Biodiesel is a motor or heating fuel produced from renewable vegetable oils or animal fats. It is produced by reacting vegetable oil with methanol in the presence of a catalyst, resulting in a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and glycerin. After removing glycerin and other contaminants, the remaining FAME mixture is pure biodiesel. Depending on the oil source, a typical biodiesel contains FAME mixtures with both saturated and unsaturated carbon chains from C8 to C24. This application note demonstrates an exemplary analysis of the concentration of FAME and triglycerides (TG) in biodiesel fuel (diesel oil).
This document details an exemplary analysis of the concentration of FAME and triglycerides (TG) in biodiesel fuel. It utilizes the Agilent 1200 Series HPLC system, specifically configured with an isocratic pump, autosampler, thermostatted column compartment, and a refractive index detector (RID). The analysis employs methyl stearate as a reference compound for FAME and trilinolein for TG to establish calibration curves.
| Mobile phase | Hexane/2-propanol = 99.6:0.4 |
|---|---|
| Flow rate | 1.0 mL/min |
| Column temperature | 40 °C |
A refractive index detector (RID) is used.
The system can detect small amounts of triglyceride with a quantification limit of 1 g/10 pL.
The analysis uses an Agilent ZORBAX Rx-SIL column that is 4.6 mm x 250 mm with 5 pm particles.
The flow rate for the mobile phase is set to 1.0 mL/min.