An Investigation of Hydrocarbon Flames using Probe Sampling and GC/MS

Fundamental operation of the Gas Chromatographer/Mass Spectrometer (GC/MS) is discussed. Differences between detection methods are discussed and specific analysis issues are considered. Experimental results by analyzing two conventional jet fuels (Jet-A and JP-8) and a synthetic jet fuel (S-8) are presented and compared. Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry is used to qualify the components of each fuel. Several batches of S-8 from two sources, NASA and AFRL, are analyzed and compared. Strong similarities between the batches are observed, although key differences indicate they are not from the same batch. Results of S-8 fuel analysis are further compared to those obtained by NIST. While good agreement is seen, variations in injection and Gas Chromatography programs are noted to yield discrepancies. Results common to all fuel types show interesting patterns in the peak distribution. Components are eluted in order of increasing molecular weight and isomers of components of the same molecular weight are eluted together. Norma