Determination of water in ethanol and in moist air

Abstract

Analyses of aqueous alcohols containing as little as 0.01% of water in both liquid and gaseous phases were performed by gas chromatography on a Porapak Q column using a thermal conductivity detector. The method is simple, quick, reproducible and only a 0.1-µl volume of the liquid sample is needed. It has many uses including the determination of alcohol in a fermenter as it is formed, and the same column can be used to measure the absolute humidity (0.001–0.18 or more) of atmospheric air and other gases, using a 1.0-ml sample.

Selected examples of experimental results are presented and the method is compared with other published methods.