Elementary analysis of petroleum distillates by GC-AED: Validation and application to the calculation of distillation profile properties

This article describes the development of elementary analysis in the distil lation profile of petroleum cuts by gas phase chromatography-atomic emissio n detection (GC-AED) coupling and shows the application perspectives to cha racterisation of middle distillates of a piece of information unheard of un til now. oil a routine basis. The performances of the analytical assembly u sed have been studied for carbon, hydrogen, sulphur and nitrogen analysis. Simulated distillation, a gas phase chromatography analysis which enables d etermining the weight percentage of distilled matter in relation to the boi ling point of petroleum cuts, has been adapted to GC-AED coupling. We have developed a method giving access to three types of information. global elem entary composition, simulated distillation and elementary composition in di stillation profile, i.e. by fraction (%) of the distilled product. The anal ysis of the atmospheric distillates has been assessed in terms of precision and bias for these various types of information. The validation was carrie d out notably by comparison with rite results obtained using reference anal ytical methods, on pr preparative distillation cuts of representative sampl es. The application of GC-AED to characterisation of distillates is discuss ed in particular for classification purposes and for predicting petroleum p roperties in the distillation profile. The cetane number of gas oils was ta ken as an example to illustrate the latter application.