BS EN 12916:2019

What is BS EN 12916 - Liquid chromatography method about?

BS EN 12916 is an international standard that verifies the high performance of petroleum products.

BS EN 12916 specifies a test method for the determination of the content of mono-aromatic, di-aromatic, and tri+-aromatic hydrocarbons in diesel fuels, paraffinic diesel fuels, and petroleum distillates. It explains the liquid chromatography method with refractive index detection for petroleum products.

BS EN 12916 defines two procedures, A and B. Procedure A is applicable to diesel fuels that may contain fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) up to 30 percent (V/V) and petroleum distillates in the boiling range from 150 °C to 400 °C. Procedure B is applicable to paraffinic diesel fuels with up to 7 percent (V/V) FAME. This procedure does not contain a dilution of the sample in order to determine the low levels of aromatic components in these fuels.

Who is BS EN 12916 - Liquid chromatography method for?

BS EN 12916 on the liquid chromatography method is useful for:

• Oil and petroleum industries
• Manufacturers of petroleum products
• Testing houses/ laboratories for petroleum products

Why should you use BS EN 12916- Liquid chromatography method?

By convention, the aromatic hydrocarbon types are defined on the basis of their elution characteristics from the specified liquid chromatography column relative to model aromatic compounds.

BS EN 12916 explains the liquid chromatography method with refractive index detection to calculate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons content from the sum of di-aromatic and tri+-aromatic hydrocarbons. The total content of aromatic compounds is calculated from the sum of the individual aromatic hydrocarbon types.

Users of BS EN 12916 should note that compounds containing sulphur, nitrogen, and oxygen can interfere in the determination, mono-alkenes do not interfere, but conjugated di-alkenes and poly-alkenes, if present, can do so.

Hence, BS EN 12916 helps its users for assessment of risk as the column is connected to a refractive index detector which detects the components as they elute from the column and reduces the risks by providing them with the appropriate test method, and information for use, for investigating aromatic hydrocarbon types in middle distillates.

What’s changed since the last update?

BS EN 12916:2019 supersedes BS EN 12916:2016, which is withdrawn. BS EN 12916:2019 includes the major change compared to the previous version as follows:

• Addition of a procedure for the analysis of very low contents of aromatics in paraffinic diesel fuels. The method now comprises two procedures, A and B
• Additionally, the required accuracy of the weighing of the system calibration standards 1 and 2 was increased from 001 g to 0.000 1 g