Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry identifies oil pollutant

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry may be a common method of determining the purity of an oil sample.

But researchers in China have been applying gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to edible oil for the same purpose.

Their findings, published in the latest issue of the Journal of Chromatography A, explain how further chromatographic processes can extract the pollutant from the oil, effectively purifying it.

The pollutant in question is polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, identified as a priority substance by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Jian-Hua Wang and Guo Cui of the University of Qingdao and State Key Laboratory of Food Safety Testing in China developed the analytical method and subsequent purifying process, which uses a narrow gel permeation chromatographic column, achieving recoveries of between 81 and 96 per cent of the edible oil tested.

The Chinese State Key Laboratories are university research departments which receive funding from the Chinese central government, typically in areas such as chemistry, physics and medicine.