Dionex announces an automated direct injection method for analyzing methanol intended for use as fuel or as a chemical feedstock. Application Note 201: Determination of Chloride and Sulfate in Methanol Using Ion Chromatography describes the use of a Reagent-Free™ IC system with Eluent Generation (RFIC-EG™ system) and suppressed conductivity detection for the determination of chloride and sulfate in methanol. This method does not require any sample pretreatment, and has a short 12 min runtime.
Interest in methanol as an alternative fuel has been growing as gas prices have risen and ethanol production from corn has proven expensive and inefficient. Methanol is cheaper to make than ethanol, and can be produced from non-food sources such as natural gas, biomass, and coal. Methanol has been used for years as a racing fuel, and China is implementing methanol production on a large scale for use as an alternative to petroleum.
Inorganic ions such as chloride and sulfate can form deposits in engines, restricting fuel flow and reducing performance. If methanol comes into common use as a fuel, fast and simple techniques for quality assurance will be necessary. This method provides an automated procedure for the direct injection and rapid analysis of fuel methanol for the two most common fuel contaminants.