FRACTIONATION OF LOW TEMPERATURE COAL TAR BY GEL PERMEATION CHROMATOGRAPHY

Gel permeation chromatography has been applied to the fractionation of some coal carbonization and related liquids. This technique permits the separation of these complicated mixtures into aromatic, aliphatic, and tar acid components. Operation at room temperature makes it possible to fractionate these materials without using temperatures where cracking or polymerization may occur. With tetrahydrofuran (THF) as a sample vehicle, the distillation fraction boiling above 350 °C, which is usually termed pitch and discarded prior to conventional analysis, may be analyzed and included in the sample assay. The elution curves derived permit the calculation of percentage composition. © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.