Focus on Petroleum Analysis: Battling Fuel Fraud and Achieving ASTM D5769

Fuel fraud is a major global problem driven by fuel tax incentives, subsidies, and illicit resale of marked fuels. In this on‑demand webinar, Christina Kelly, Application Chemist at LECO, examines how modern GC‑MS with time‑of‑flight detection can be used to combat fuel fraud and support compliant petroleum analysis—while also meeting the rigorous requirements of ASTM D5769 for aromatics in gasoline.

The first half of the webinar focuses on fuel fraud, particularly the misuse and laundering of tax‑subsidized diesel fuels. Christina explains how traditional visible fuel dyes can be chemically removed, creating both economic losses and environmental damage. She then discusses the introduction of AccuTrace S10, a covert, high‑boiling fuel marker deployed in UK diesel fuels, and outlines the analytical challenges associated with detecting this marker at very low concentrations under real‑world conditions.

Using the LECO Pegasus BT GC‑TOF-MS, the webinar demonstrates how full‑spectrum acquisition and non‑target deconvolution enable confident identification and quantification of the AccuTrace marker—without heart‑cutting, dilution, or reliance on retention time alone. The approach exceeds both roadside screening and advanced laboratory confirmation sensitivity requirements set by HMRC.

The second half of the webinar transitions to ASTM D5769, the standardized GC‑MS method for determining benzene, toluene, and total aromatics in finished gasoline. Christina walks through each method requirement—sensitivity, ion ratios, chromatographic resolution, calibration linearity, and QC checks—and shows how GC‑TOF MS meets or exceeds these specifications. Special attention is given to the role of deconvolution in resolving co‑eluting aromatics and ensuring accurate quantitation of both calibrated and uncalibrated components.