Separation and identification of Fischer-Tropsch wax by high temperature gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Fischer-Tropsch (FT) wax is an important material produced from FT synthesis reactions. In this study, an improved separation and identification method for FT wax by high temperature gas chromatography (HTGC) coupled with cold-on-column (without pretreatment) was developed. In our improved separation procedure , the carrier gas was changed to helium and a long chromatographic column was adapted for use at high temperature. The n-alkanes in FT wax were well separated from other unknown components and the heavy components with carbon numbers higher than C(90 )could be eluted. Unknown components of the FT wax fraction were confirmed as alkanes, alkenes and oxygenated compounds by using HTGC-mass spectrometry. These results improve our understanding of the FT synthesis process and increase our detailed knowledge of FT products.