Packed Column SFC of Gas Oils. Part II: Experimental Design Optimization of the Group-Type Analysis using CO2-SF6 as the Mobile Phase

An optimization procedure is presented for group-type analysis of diesel fuel by supercritical fluid chromatography using packed silica column and a mixed mobile phase. A set of five responses, four values of resolution of a performance mixture and analysis time, was modeled using a Doehlert matrix for experimental design. Optimized experimental conditions for the five responses were obtained from a response surfaces optimization, taking into account various constraints on SF₆ content in mobile phase and analysis time. The predicted and experimental resolutions were in good agreement for the different optimized conditions and one of them was selected to for application to a given diesel fuel for comparison with the results obtained by SFC using pure CO₂ and by HPLC. The conditions found in this study provide an alternative method for the determination of mono-, di-, and polyaromatic compounds in middle distillates.