Analysis of Diesel Range Organics (DRO) and Motor/Lube Oil Range Organics (ORO) in Ultrashort Run Time

New Organic Monitoring Techniques
Poster Presentation

Presented by R. Marfil-Vega
Prepared by Y. Lin, R. Marfil-Vega, N. Lock
Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, 7102 Riverwood Dr., Columbia, Maryland, 20146, United States


Contact Information: yulin@shimadzu.com; 410-910-0968

ABSTRACT

Petroleum hydrocarbon contaminants are found in environmental samples and can be monitored using gas chromatography. EPA 8015 diesel range organics method is widely used to analyze targets compounds with boiling points that span from 170 to 520 °C and it normally takes over 20 min to complete a chromatographic run. In this study, methods to achieve analysis of diesel range organics (DRO) as well as motor/lube oil range organics (ORO) in ultrashort run time were explored using Shimadzu’s GC-2030 with fast temperature programmable (FTP) column. The resistively heated column enables elution of all compounds in less than 2 min, allowing up to 250 samples analyzed per 12-hr shift. This method greatly improves throughput, allowing ultrafast screening of contaminated sites. Furthermore, hydrogen was also evaluated in addition to helium as the carrier gas and was shown to be a suitable cost-effective alternative carrier gas for this method.