Fast-HRGC method for quantitative determination of benzene in gasoline

Gasoline is a very complex mixture of hundreds different components and, from a toxicological point of view, benzene is the most hazardous one. Some of the methods recommended present many drawbacks, such as time-consuming. Thus, the need to develop fast methods for routine analysis of benzene is fundamental to the quality control of gasoline. Therefore, the present work compared two different capillary columns to develop a new method for routine analysis of benzene in gasoline by HRGC–FID. The quantitative analysis was carried out using external standard from 0.1%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% to 2.0% (v/v) of benzene in ethanol and in spiked gasoline. The results show that, using Fast-HRGC, it is possible to separate benzene and other 245 compounds found in gasoline in analysis time of 8 min with high accuracy.