Development of the Method and Technique to Analyze Acetone Hydrogenation Products by Gas Chromatography

Capillary chromatographic columns with different stationary phases were studied in order to compare their ability to estimate purity of isopropyl alcohol obtained by hydrogenation of acetone. The study was performed with the columns based on polyethylene glycol 20 M terminated with 2-nitroterephthalic acid (PEG20M/FFAP); poly(1-trimethylsilyl-1-propyne) (PTMSP032); and trifluoropropyl (25 %) methyl silicone elastomer (SKTFT 50X). A comparison of the measurement time, asymmetry factors (As) for components of the mixtures, and resolution (Rs) for the pairs of compounds acetone/isopropanol and isopropanol/internal standard gave grounds to choose a capillary column PEG20M/FFAP. A technique was developed for measuring the weight fractions of acetone and isopropanol using the method of internal standard in the gas phase. n-Butanol served as the internal standard. The detection limit was found to be 1.45 for acetone, 1.43 for isopropanol, and 1.28·10–12 g/s for n-butanol. Relative standard deviation (the recurrence factor) did not exceed 4.3 % at a confidence level P = 0.95.