BS EN 14110 Fat and oil derivatives - Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) - Determination of methanol content
1 Scope
This European Standard specifies a method for the determination of methanol content in fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) for use as diesel fuel and domestic heating fuel. The method is applicable for a concentration range from 0.01 % ( m/m ) to 0.5 % (m/m) methanol. The method is not applicable to mixtures of FAME which contain other low boiling components.
2 Principle
The sample is heated at 80 °C in a hermetically sealed vial to allow desorption of contained methanol into the gas phase. When equilibrium is reached, a defined part of the gas phase is injected into a gas chromatograph, where methanol is detected with a flame ionisation detector. Normally methanol is the only peak in the chromatogram.
The amount of methanol is calculated by reference to an external calibration. Methanol can also be determined after addition of an internal standard to the sample before heating, followed by calculation with the use of an internal calibration factor.
NOTE If only manual equipment is available then only internal standard calibration should be used.
