Separation of oil shale phenols by capillary zone electrophoresis and micellar electrokinetic chromatography

The relatively high oxygen content and specific structure of the organic matter of Estonian oil shale leads to the phenomenon that its thermal decomposition products contain considerably more phenols than is the case with other fuels. These oil shale phenols are also quite specific and consist mainly of resorcinol and its alkyl derivatives, but, in addition, they also contain monohydric phenols, naphthols and polyhydric phenols. Up to now gas and liquid chromatography have been used to separate these phenols. In this study, for separation of oil shale phenols capillary electrophoresis has been utilised. Two modes of CE viz. capillary zone electrophoresis and micellar electrokinetic chromatography were tested for the separation of phenolic substances and it was demonstrated that using MEKC practically all phenols present in oil shale retorting products could be successfully separated.