Analytical technique for measuring bound glycerides in a biodiesel composition
AssigneeBoard of Regents, The University of Texas System
InventorsEva Deemer, Wen Yee Lee, Xiomara Carolina Chianelli
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of estimating the amount of unreacted starting materials (glycerides, methyl esters, etc.) and the composition of a biodiesel using TLC in conjunction with a lipophilic dye, Nile Red is described herein. The dye based TLC method of the present invention is convenient and provides significant advantages over existing methods for estimating the purity of a biodiesel composition.
Claims19
A thin-layer chromatography (TLC) method for detecting an amount of one or more suspected bound glyceride contaminants in a fuel sample wherein the bound glyceride contaminants comprise monoglycerides, diglycerides and triglycerides using a fluorescent lipophilic dye comprising the steps of:
- obtaining the fuel sample;
- separating the fuel sample along with a standard sample of the suspected contaminants on one or more coated TLC plates;
- submerging the TLC plates in a hydrophobic nonaqueous solution comprising the fluorescent lipophilic dye to stain the plates;
- drying the stained plates;
- dipping the dried plates in a bleach solution;
- visualizing one or more bands on the one or more coated TLC plates using an UV lamp;
- and
- determining the amounts of the one or more suspected bound glyceride contaminants by comparing a region of interest in the one or more bands on the one or more coated TLC plates for the standard and the fuel sample.
An analytical method for detecting the amounts of one or more suspected bound glyceride contaminants in a fuel sample wherein the bound glyceride contaminants comprise monoglycerides, diglycerides and triglycerides using a fluorescent lipophilic dye comprising the steps of:
- obtaining the fuel sample
- depositing the fuel sample onto a coated plate;
- depositing a standard of the one or more suspected contaminants onto the coated plate;
- placing the coated plate in a hydrophobic nonaqueous solvent or a hydrophobic nonaqueous solvent mixture for a specified amount of time;
- removing the coated plate from the hydrophobic nonaqueous solvent or the hydrophobic nonaqueous solvent mixture;
- drying the coated plate;
- submerging the dried coated plate in a hydrophobic nonaqueous fluorescent lipophilic dye solution comprising a fluorescent lipophilic dye;
- removing the coated plate from the fluorescent lipophilic dye solution;
- drying the coated plate;
- dipping the dried coated plate in a bleach solution;
- drying the coated plate;
- visualizing one or more bands on the coated plate using an UV lamp;
- and
- determining the amounts of one or more suspected bound glyceride contaminants by comparing a region of interest in the one or more bands on the coated plate for the standard and the fuel sample.
An analytical method for detecting the amounts of one or more suspected bound glyceride contaminants in a biodiesel sample wherein the bound glyceride contaminants comprise monoglycerides, diglycerides and triglycerides using a lipophilic fluorescent dye comprising the steps of:
- obtaining the biodiesel sample;
- depositing the biodiesel sample onto a coated plate, wherein the biodiesel sample is deposited directly or deposited after dissolution in an organic liquid;
- depositing a standard of the one or more suspected bound glyceride contaminants onto the coated plate, wherein the standard is deposited directly or deposited after dissolution in an organic liquid;
- placing the coated plate in a hydrophobic nonaqueous solvent or a hydrophobic nonaqueous solvent mixture for a specified amount of time;
- removing the coated plate from the hydrophobic nonaqueous solvent or the hydrophobic nonaqueous solvent mixture;
- drying the coated plate;
- submerging the dried coated plate in a solution of the fluorescent lipophilic dye until stained;
- removing the coated plate from the dye solution;
- drying the coated plate;
- dipping the dried coated plate in a bleaching solution;
- drying the coated plate;
- visualizing one or more bands on the coated plate using an UV lamp;
- and
- determining the amounts of one or more suspected bound glyceride contaminants by comparing a region of interest in the one or more bands on the coated plate for the standard and the biodiesel sample.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.