The gas chromatographic determination of petrol in water"
As a result of accidents subsoil water may be polluted with petroleum products and this may be detrimental to the drinking water supply. The content of petroleum products in water that causes concern is I mg/l. Research is now being conducted in our institute concerning the migration of small quantities of petroleum products in the soil. It was necessary for this purpose to have a method whereby hydrocarbons from petrol dissolved in water could be detected.
Direct analysis by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) of aqueous petrol solutions did not prove successful. An indirect method by which extraction is effected was developed. The solvent selected was nitrobenzene, after it had been found that ether, and to a lesser extent carbon tetrachloride and carbon disulphide, are not suitable for this purpose. With the GLC column used, a fair degree of separation is obtained between the alkanes and aromatics found in petrol as well as between the different aromatics. Eq!xwinaents and resach Instrzcnzentation. Gas chromatography was carried out on an Aerograph 1520 with a flame ionisation detector, using a 3 m, 0.125 in. O.D. copper column packed with IO o/o polyethylene glycol 1500 on silanized Chromosorb W (60-80 mesh).