The determination of ethanol in paints, inks and adhesives by gas chromatography

Abstract

A gas-chromatographic method for the determination of ethanol in paints, inks, adhesives and similar composite products has been developed by which the time required for the analysis of samples has been greatly reduced. The ethanol is distilled azeotropically from the sample in the presence of toluene, and the distillate is examined directly by gas chromatography without any further treatment other than mixing with an internal standard. The problem of the longer retention time of toluene, compared with those of the lower aliphatic alcohols, has been overcome by the use of back-flushing. From the results obtained by the analysis in duplicate of a series of samples, including a number prepared in the laboratory containing known amounts of ethanol, the accuracy and precision of the method have been established.