California Air Resources Board approves ASTM D8071-19 as equivalent test method to ASTM D6550-10

VUV Analytics Inc. have announced that ASTM D8071-19 the “Standard Test Method for Determination of Hydrocarbon Group Types and Select Hydrocarbon and Oxygenate Compounds in Automotive Spark-Ignition Engine Fuel Using Gas Chromatography with Vacuum Ultraviolet Absorption Spectroscopy Detection (GC-VUV)” has been granted equivalency to ASTM D6550-10 for the determination of olefin content in gasoline by the California Air Regulations Board (CARB), under Executive Order G-719-028.

The California Air Resources Board’s Analysis & Emissions Research Branch agreed that the precision statement of ASTM D8071-19 is comparable to or better than that of the adopted method, ASTM D6550-10, which is the “Standard Test Method for Determination of Olefin Content of Gasolines by Supercritical-Fluid Chromatography (SFC)”.

“This achievement is monumental in that it provides all west coast and California based gasoline refiners options for their olefin analysis and gasoline certification,” said Sean Jameson, Founder & SVP, Business Development of VUV Analytics. “Before today, the only option available was supercritical fluid chromatography which comes with significant challenges and overhead. Our approach, which combines the VUV Analyser™ for fuels based on Vacuum Ultraviolet Spectroscopy (VUV) running ASTM D8071 provides more accurate results, is easier and faster because it is automated, and less expensive to operate on a per sample basis,” added Mr. Jameson.

The ASTM D8071-19 method was published in 2017 and was the first new technology approved for fuels analysis since 2000. After completing an extensive InterLaboratory Study (ILS), ASTM D8071 gained EPA equivalency for precision and correlation to other EPA referee methods. This is significant because ASTM D8071 – a single analysis technique can replace ASTM D1319 for aromatics and olefins, ASTM D5599 for ethanol, ASTM D3606 for Benzene and ASTM D5769 for aromatics. What has traditionally taken four methods can now be done in just one. This substantially reduces cost of operation and increases efficiencies.