Compositional Characterization of a Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) Bio-Oil Mid-Distillate by Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography (GC × GC)

Abstract

The composition of a bio-oil in the mid-distillate boiling range produced via a hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) process was characterized by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC) technology hyphenated with electron ionization (EI) and field ionization (FI) mass spectrometry (MS) (GC × GC × EI/FI-MS). GC × GC × EI/FI-MS is used for the separation and identification of hydrocarbons as well as oxygenates, while GC × GC with flame ionization detection (FID) can be used for quantitative analysis of the separated components. With GC × GC plus EI/FI-MS separation, it is now possible to distinguish all oxygenates from hydrocarbons in this complex mixture based on the difference in their nominal mass classes. Overall, the ability to determine the composition and structure of HTL bio-oil will enable bio-oil research and development into the next stages of process and production, such as process development and scale-up, compositional modeling, and catalyst development.