Rapid preliminary separation of petroleum hydrocarbons by solid-phase extraction cartridges

Small, prepacked columns are tested for fractionating petroleum hydrocarbons from crude oil and products oils. Both normal-phase (silica) and reversed-phase (C₁₈) stationary phases yielded fast, easy, and reproducible separations, which facilitated further analysis of the oils by gas or liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. The different separation characteristics of the stationary phases offer great flexibility in fractionating oil, enriching special compound classes, or separating hydrocarbons from environmental matrices.