Statistical data processing for GC×GC differentiation of aviation fuels (Christina Kelly, MDCW 2025)

🎤 Presenter: Christina Kelly (LECO Corporation, Saint Joseph, USA)

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💡 Book in your calendar: 17th Multidimensional Chromatography Workshop (MDCW) 13 - 15. January 2026

Abstract

As an increasing number of pathways for producing alternative aviation fuels are accepted, with some synthetic fuels being described as “more like what we want from jet fuel than what we pull from the ground,” more robust and easier-to-interpret GC×GC data processing comparing batches of samples becomes of greater importance for workflows that monitor fuel quality. Hydrocarbon group-type composition is often the main focus for routine GC×GC analysis of aviation fuels.

However, the distribution of aromatics and other heteroatomically-substituted compounds that are usually present in much smaller concentrations than the predominant paraffins and naphthenes can supply additional information. These sulfur-, nitrogen-, and oxygen-containing or substituted multi-ringed aromatic analytes can provide further insight into the processes used to generate these fuels and their potential impacts on fuel performance.

This presentation explores the different types of results that are possible when approaching diverse samples using several statistical methods to highlight and identify significant variation between aviation fuel samples. Multiple aviation fuels from production processes including Fischer-Tropsch reactions and hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) are compared to traditional petroleum-based fuels.