Two-dimensional gas chromatography and trilinear partial least squares forthe quantitative analysis of aromatic and naphthene content in naphtha

Quantitative analysis of naphtha samples is demonstrated using comprehensiv e two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC x GC) and chemometrics. This work is aimed at providing a GC system for the quantitative and qualitative anal ysis of complex process streams for process monitoring and control. The hig h-speed GC x GC analysis of naphtha is accomplished through short GC column s, high carrier gas velocities, and partial chromatographic peak resolution followed by multivariate quantitative analysis. Six min GC x GC separation s are analyzed with trilinear partial least squares (tri-PLS) to predict th e aromatic and naphthene (cycloalkanes) content of naphtha samples. The 6-m in GC x GC separation time is over 16 times faster than a single-GC-column standard method in which a single-column separation resolves the aromatic a nd naphthene compounds in naphtha and predicts the aromatic and naphthene p ercent concentrations through addition of the resolved signals. Acceptable quantitative precision is provided by GC x GC/tri-PLS.