Result

Discussion:
Different flow rate of the mobile phase will affect the retention time of
the compound. The higher the flow rate of the carrier gas, it will elute the
analyte faster (in shorter time) but will cause band broadening due to
mass transfer (C-term) of Van Deemter plot, where the solute in the
column are not completely interact and equilibrate. So, to reduce the band
broadening or the overlapping peak, the optimum gas flow rate must be
used to achieved better separation.
From the experiment results, the optimum gas flow rate achieved was
at 70 m/s which was at good resolution, 25.31 at average Resolution near
to the ideal resolution. Other than 70m/s gas flow rate, the other flow rate
has not achieved a good separation where there are some peak
overlapping and band broadening.
Besides, the column temperature also needs to be determined its
optimum column temperature for getting the good separation. Same with
flow rate, the column temperature with too high temperature will allow
the analyte to elute fast but the volatile compound’s peaks will
overlapped and not well separated and vice versa with applying low
column temperature. The high column temperature will also lead to
column bleeding.
From the experiment results, the optimum temperature achieved was at
210ºC. So, to conclude, the Optimum GC condition to be well separated
of the standard methyl ester was at 70 m/s with 210ºC.
The column used in the GC was HP-5 capillary column. This column
consists of 5% of phenyl group and can be assumed slightly less non-
polar because in order to separate the standard methyl ester (which is
known as slightly less non -polar compound). This stationary phase will
retain the mixture longer in the column and separate at their retention
time. The most non-polar analyte will less retain in the column thus will
make it elute first and vice versa with the slightly less non-polar
compounds.
From the standard mixture of methyl ester, there are three type of
individual standard which were methyl laurate, methyl myristate and
methyl palmitate. These three standards were eluted at 1.956min,
2.789min, and 4.486min respectively. These three standards retention
time were closed to the individual standard that have been analyse as
reference to the standard mixture methyl analyte. The first compound
eluted was methyl laurate followed by methyl myristate and methyl
palmitate. These sequences of elution were related to the polarity of the
compounds. The methyl palmitate was the most retained compound in the
column and more less non-polar compared to methyl laurate and methyl
myristate. Besides, the GC also depend on the column temperature to
separate. Methyl palmitate was less volatile which have high boiling
point than the other two compounds.