Estimation of the molecular mass range of the tar from pyrolysis of casein by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, probe mass spectrometry and size exclusion chromatography with 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone as eluent

Eur. J. Mass Spectrom. 10, 101–108 (2004)
DOI: 10.1255/ejms.592

B. Purevsuren, B. Avid and Ya. Davaajav
Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar,51, Mongolia
A.A. Herod,^* R. Kandiyoti and T.J. Morgan
Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology, South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK

ABSTRACT:

Casein has been pyrolysed to obtain a biochar (28.3% yield), with mostly meso- and macro-pore structure, and a liquid tar product of high yield (37.5%) with the balance as gas (20.9%) and water (13.3%). The elemental composition of the casein tar was: C 66.7%, H 8.3%, N 12.1% and O 12.9% (by difference). The tar sample has been characterised by mass spectrometry, gas chromatography (GC)/MS and heated-probe MS, to give molecular mass distributions for comparison with molecular mass ranges indicated by analytical-scale size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). The tar appeared to be completely soluble in 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP), the solvent used for SEC. It appeared to consist mostly of lower molecular mass fractions with elution times at 18–26 min. GC/MS analysis showed the presence of both aliphatic and aromatic nitrogen-containing components. Neither GC/MS nor heated-probe MS were able to detect more than about half the tar components.

Keywords: casein, biochar, tar, pyrolysis

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