Classification of biodiesel and fuel blends using gas chromatography - differential mobility spectrometry with cluster analysis and isolation of C18:3 me by dual ion filtering.

Abstract Fatty acid alkyl esters (FAAEs) were determined at 10–100 mg/L in biodiesel and blends with petrodiesel without sample pre-treatment using gas chromatography with a tandem differential mobility detector. Selectivity was provided through chromatographic separations and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization reactions in the detector with mobility characterization of gas ions. Limits of detection were ~0.5 ng with an average of 2.98% RSD for peak area precision, ≤1.3% RSD for retention time precision, and ≤9.2% RSD for compensation voltage precision. Biodiesel blends were classified using principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). Unsupervised cluster analysis captured 52.72% of variance in a single PC while supervised analysis captured 71.64% of variance using Fisher ratio feature selection. Test set predictions showed successful clustering according to source or feedstock when regressed onto the training set model. Detection of the regulated substance methyl linolenate (C18:3 me) was achieved in 6–10 s with a 1 m long capillary column using dual ion filtering in the tandem differential mobility detector.