Determination of methanol in gasoline by gas chromatography

Abstract

The method described is simple and reliable for the qualitative and quantitative determination of methanol in gasoline. Gasoline samples are injected directly on to a Carbowax 20M column operated isothermally at 50 °C for 3.0 min, and then programmed to rise to 150 °C at a rate of 10 °C min^–1. The methanol peak occurs with a retention time of 2.6 min in a region free of other gasoline component peaks. The calibration graph is linear up to 10% methanol, and the detection limit is 0.2%.