Today, as oil prices climb and pollution levels soar, there is significant worldwide interest in alternative fuels. Biodiesel is one of the most popular alternative fuels available today. It may be used in engines, either pure or blended with diesel fuel, to reduce exhaust pollutants. It can be produced easily from sunflowers, soy, rapeseed, tallow, lard, yellow grease, and other sources. Chemically, it is the product obtained when a vegetable oil or animal fat is reacted with an alcohol in the presence of a catalyst, such as sodium or potassium hydroxide, to produce fatty acid methyl esters.

Methods used to test the quality of biodiesel fuels can be categorized into three types based on the target compounds: ASTM D6584 and EN 14105 test for total glycerin, EN 14103 tests for fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs), and EN 14110 tests for residual methanol. These methods may be performed using either fused silica or metal columns, but the column chosen must have extremely high temperature tolerance. Restek offers both fused silica and metal columns designed specifically for high temperature biodiesel analysis. These columns, the Rtx®-Biodiesel TG,MXT®-Biodiesel TG, Stabilwax®, and Rtx-1® column lines, offer outstanding performance for biodiesel testing.