Study on the effect of packing material and solvent system on column chromatographic fractionation of wood-tar

Bio-oil, a complex mixture of organics, can be a source for automobile fuel, and for chemicals it is advantageous to separate the complex mixture to simplified fractions for further treatments. Herein, the column chromatographic separation of wood-tar by solvents of cyclohexane-benzene-methanol and cyclohexane-dichloromethane-methanol, with adsorbents of neutral Al2O3 and silica gel, was investigated. It was found that alkoxyl-monophenols were more abundant in cyclohexane solution. In benzene and dichloromethane solutions, alkyl-monophenols were in high contents. In methanol solution, the compound of 3-methyl-1,2-cyclopentanedione was in distinct high content by neutral Al2O3, while the components were very diverse by silica gel.