SEPARATION OF WAX ESTERS FROM OLIVE OILS BY HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY

To detect adulteration of olive oil with solvent-extracted oils, the d etermination of the wax ester content has become more important during recent years. Hence, a greater number of wax ester analyses need to b e performed by quality control laboratories. The most common method in use requires a liquid chromatographic (LC) separation of the less pol ar fraction, which contains the wax esters, from the glyceride matter on a hand-filled silica gel column. The aim of this project was to ver ify the possibility of replacing LC with high-performance liquid chrom atography by taking advantage of the greater reliability and repeatabi lity of this technique, as well as of the possibility of making the se paration automatic. The paper describes how to perform the analysis an d the statistical test that was carried out; furthermore, a comparison has been made with the usual method and results are in good agreement .